To Wed or Not to Wed

Today's generation of young women who live
in western countries are increasingly changing their priorities to accommodate other needs
and aspirations.

 

Today's generation of young women who live in western countries are increasingly changing their priorities to accommodate other needs and aspirations. Meet the new generation who are not so concerned with marrying as soon as they come of age. Instead, they are ambitiously driven to pave a solid career for themselves whilst carefully planning to marry after they have reached their goals.

Ebyan Cusmaan, a psychology student at Nottingham Trent University, believes Somali, Eritrean and Ethiopian women have a far greater potential that needs to be explored and valued. Although these women are praised in our cultures, it is often for what they have done for their families or their ability to endure difficult times. It is often frowned upon for a woman to educate herself and be able to stand on her own two feet without the help of a man. Like Ebyan, many young women believe this ideology to be archaic and outdated. Most of these girls were either born here or came here at a very young age. It is only natural for them to have adapted to western culture. This is not to say they have to leave their own traditions behind but rather mould the two and reap the benefits of both of them.

These young women are discovering many opportunities that are at their disposal such as support for higher education, work placements, vocational courses and better employment opportunities. They are also able to appreciate the benefits of being independent, not only for themselves but also for their future families. A financially independent woman will not want to marry a man for financial reasons but rather for the personal qualities, he can bring to a relationship. Financial independence is the catalyst for pushing back traditional weddings. The reasons based on our interviews, is one of the crowning ironies of human courtship: women want financial independence so they can support themselves without the husband, and men want it so they can support their wife. “I grew up with nothing, and I don’t want my kids to grow up the same way,” says Kedest a PR in her early Thirties.