by Alison Sloan

Created on: May 12, 2009   Last Updated: May 13, 2009

Can There Be a Happily Ever After?

With statistics showing that half of all marriages fail, it is not surprising that many individuals have two or more long term relationships in the course of their life.

But what happened to lifetime commitment, till death do us part, the romantic notion of happily ever after?

There are many factors why previous generations were tightly bound by their marriage vows, until the late 20th century, male and female roles where clearly defined by society.

In the19th century, women and any financial assets they brought to a marriage became the property of their spouses. Marriage, in higher society, was a business contract usually arranged by parents and seen as a duty. Love and romance where not part of the equation; the couple liking and respecting each other was a bonus. Divorce was rare and stigmatised. With life expectancy rates lower than today, even life-long marriages were short by today's standards. Nowadays, couples could realistically expect to celebrate their 50th anniversary.

At the turn of the 20thcentury, the women's movement did herald changes in the individual of females across the country, but it was a slow process. Male and female roles were still clearly defined, men as the head of the household and the provider and women as the homemaker and mother. Married women were expected to stay at home and continued to remain financially reliant on their partners. Many women and some men remained in a loveless and sometimes abusive marriage because they felt they had no option. Even in abusive relationships, separation and divorce wasn't common and still carried a degree of stigma into the 70s.

Nowadays with changing roles, financial independence, more equality in the workplace and with the advent of quickie divorces; people are empowered with more choices. Families come in all shapes and sizes; one parent families are less stigmatised, males are taking on more traditional female roles about the home. The dynamics of married life has altered with people expecting different meanings and purpose from wedded bliss. Together with longer life expectancy rates, 'till death do us part' can seem an eternity.

What are the expectations of marriage of the modern couple?

Despite these role changes, I still believe people enter into marriage with a romantic belief in the commitment of love, honour and obey and till death us do part. In modern times, these traditional beliefs may be ineffective in supporting a lifelong

• 1
• 2
• Next Page >>