Half of singles favor cohabitation with marriage in mind
By Choi Sung-jin
One out of every two single Koreans approves of living together on the premise they will get married. And they are quite negative about the existing marriage practice, in which men buy homes and wives prepare furnishings.
According to the “2015 fertility survey” of 2,383 unmarried people aged 20-44, by the Korea Institute for Health and Social Affairs, 68.1 percent of male and 51.2 percent of female respondents approved cohabitation with marriage in mind.
Asked whether they can live together regardless of marriage, however, 47.4 percent of men said “yes” but only 29.8 percent of women agreed.
On the other hand, to the question of whether marriage registration should be made after they live together as couples for some time, 58.4 percent of women said “yes” but only 44 percent of men gave the same reply, reflecting the relatively bigger social hardships women experience after divorce, the survey said.
On the possibility of not having children after marriage, 60.9 percent of women replied positively while 47.4 percent of men did so, indicating wives have a far greater sense of burden for raising children than husbands.
Also, 60.4 percent of male respondents and 74.3 percent of females said “it is better to split up if they are unable to resolve marital conflicts.” Asked whether a divorce would be possible if the couples have children, 72.1 percent of women said “yes,” a share far larger than the 50.7 percent for men.
The approval rate of divorce was far higher among women aged 45-49, with 63.4 percent, than the comparable rate of 51.9 percent among women under 25. “The longer women have been married, the more positive they become toward divorce, regardless of children,” said Song Min-young, a researcher at the institute. “Younger married women are more conservative about divorce, reflecting their concerns about difficulties expected in the course of rearing children.”
As to whether they should start anew through remarriage after divorce or separation by death, 64.7 percent of women approved of it, with 6.7 percent disapproving.
Young single people also showed negative responses to existing marriage practices, with 79 percent of men and 72.3 percent of women opposing the notion that husbands should buy homes and wives fill them with furnishings. The younger the men, the more negative they were about this traditional thinking, reflecting the difficulties they experience in buying homes amid the ongoing economic slump and high job insecurity.
Also, 75.8 percent of men and 81.8 percent of women opposed the time-worn thinking that wives should support husbands instead of developing their own careers. Only 20 percent of men and 13.7 percent of women agreed to another long-held notion here that men are for making money and women are for taking care of the children and household.
“All these replies reflect the thoughts of young Koreans who have to survive a slowing economy, job crisis, anxiety about the future, marriage and childcare,” it said.