Marriage is a union of two individuals in a personal relationship which is expected to be a lifelong commitment and entails many roles and responsibilities towards each other and others as prescribed by law and society. Some marriages adhere to these sanctions and norms and also nurture the relationship, while others barely scrape through often ending up in divorce.
Some see marriage as a contract, some as a religious sanction, while some view it as a pledge of love towards the one they love. Traditionally, the list of these duties was pretty inflexible for those entering marriage, especially women. Today, in modern society, one can observe a more flexible and liberal outlook towards marriage. This outlook is also being put to practice by millennials – any an individual reaching adulthood in the 21st century – even if they enter a marriage with someone older.
Countless researches and studies boil down to a fundamental change in how millenials see marriage and approach the objective of getting married. This is the bedrock of how millenials are redefining marriage, the most pronounced ways being:
- Marriage is not a source, but a desirable outcome of a stable, purposeful life: Millenials do not marry to achieve a stable life with a purpose to serve another; they prefer to stay on course to achieving their ambition with a strong sense of self-identity before they get married. They view marriage as an enriching relationship between mutually supportive individuals and empathize with each other’s expectations before agreeing on getting married.
- Marriages are not as per customs, but customized as per the individuals getting married: Millenials are flexible to sharing of responsibilities. For more and more millenials, there are no gender paradigms, no racial paradigms, no pre-conceived commitments, and no imposition of socio-cultural and religious traditions. The relationship is entirely based on mutual understanding.
No wonder, with this millennial approach, that a lesser number of people are getting married. The good news is that even fewer are getting divorced.