Abstract:
As urbanization grows in the country, age at marriage tends to follow a certain
trend and for the past years, late marriage seemed to be very prominent in urban areas
most especially in Metro Manila. This study was designed to gain a deeper understanding
on why women marry late. Fifteen women from Manila, Caloocan and Quezon City, who
got married within the age of 31 to 45 years old, participated in a qualitative study on the
factors that affect women to marry late. In depth interviews were conducted on married
women of the selected area to provide richer information to determine the factors that
affect women to delay marriage. Current findings indicated that two major factors affect a
woman’s decision to marry late: career orientation and familial responsibility and
obligations. In relation with this a woman’s educational attainment and birth order were
taken into consideration. It was able to prove that in cities like Manila, Caloocan and
Quezon City, marriage is labelled to be late when a woman enters marriage within the
age bracket of 31 to 45 years old. This present study was also able to illustrate the
advantages and disadvantages for a woman of entering marriage at a late age.
