Especially for women, marriage and motherhood can be economically catastrophic by making it difficult for them to obtain or retain a job. Another reason offered is the freedom of being single, a consideration especially for women who don’t want to end up shouldering the responsibility of the household, husband, child care, their own elderly parents, and their husband’s elderly parents. Still another reason is that many modern Japanese, both men and women in equal proportions, consider marriage “unnecessary” to a fulfilling life.
