Young people are staying in education longer. Not only are women attaining bachelor degrees in varying and often traditionally male-dominated fields, many now complete postgraduate degrees. Many have cohabited before marriage. This practice has increased over the past 20 years with statistics indicating that 67 per cent of couples marrying in 1998 had lived together before marriage. Twenty years previously, the figure was only 22 per cent.
Children are often an equal priority to a successful career and personal fulfilment.
Women are starting a family later in life, evident in the fact that the median age for first-time mothers has increased from 26.1 years in 1977 to 29.4 in 1997. Clare Payne is a communications law graduate and is currently practising as a solicitor in employment law . Privacy Policy Copyright 2000. The Sydney Morning Herald.