"Husbands are scarce" ," I can't find a woman to marry". I hear statements along these lines all the time and yet, weekend after weekend, the roads are flooded with "about to wed" cars, or I'm attending a friend's wedding, buying one gold and burgundy aso-ebi or a blue one. Why then do we keep saying "no husband, no wife for market" ? Who then are the people getting married to? Or dare I say "what then"?
The really interesting thing is most of the weddings I have seen in recent times have been of relatively young people, with the females usually between the ages 22- 25 and the men a couple of years older. Now, this has me wondering- what is the ideal age for a woman/man to get married? What qualifies her/him as being ready? Are we to believe there is no minimum age for marriage in these modern times? Are the people who get married early ready for the "marriage" and not just the fancy wedding ceremony which really is just that- a ceremony? Aside from social pressure (which technically, should not be an issue for a 22 year old female or any female at that) and the only too frequently used word "love", what motivates people to enter into marriage especially at an early age? Bearing in mind the rising rate of divorce , what keeps the ones who remain married together? A lack of a better option?
This is a rather inconclusive piece. I know not the answers to these questions. Help me!