By Jane Han
Staff Reporter
Even with the recent celebration of successful ladies leading a carefree and sexy single life, as portrayed by Carrie Bradshaw and her three best Manhattan girl pals on the wildly popular show and movie ``Sex and the City,'' it looks like married women are happier than singles.
A joint survey by online job portal Career and women's magazine SURE showed Sunday that married women rated their lives as more satisfactory, going against the growing trend for a rising number of Korean women remaining single till later in life ― and loving it. Terms such as ``Gold Miss,'' referring to women in their 30s or older who aren't married but are financially well off, have even been coined to reflect the changing perception of the old and untaken, who were once regarded as spinsters.
The pollsters asked 868 employed women to rank their level of happiness on a scale from one to 100. Married women, on average, came out with a score of 61, while their single counterparts stopped at 47.8.
The reason for their happiness was simple: emotional stability and financial security.
Twenty-seven-year-old Suh, who married less than a year ago, can attest to the findings, saying, ``I enjoyed living a free-spirited life as a single woman, but the emotional comfort I feel now is on a completely different level.''
Another bride, Lee Sun-ah, 28, says she and her husband collectively bring home almost seven million won per month, which is a lot more than what she previously earned alone.
``We don't have any children yet, so now is a good time for us to save much of our income,'' she said, adding that financial stability is one of the most rewarding aspects of getting married.
Many married women still pointed out the shortcomings of being tied up. Lack of personal time and career investment were their biggest complaints.
When single women were asked what they would need to become happier as singles, a majority of the respondents said better jobs (40 percent), while others said an interesting hobby, boyfriend or more money would enhance their happiness.
jhan@koreatimes.co.kr
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