https://www.economist.com/books-and-arts/2016/04/16/why-put-a-ring-on-it?fsrc=scn/fb/te/bl/ed/whyputaringonit

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I will comment on some paragraphs of the above review, that put bluntly the cynicism with which many women deal with their romantic relationships:

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“I MARRIED for the first time at 37. I got the man I wanted,” crowed Helen Gurley Brown on the first page of “Sex and the Single Girl”, a runaway bestseller in 1962. She snagged a brainy, sexy, fabulously successful beau despite being neither “bosomy” nor brilliant, she added. But by the time they met, she was worldly enough to beguile him, having spent almost two decades living by her wits as a single woman, sharpening her skills in the office and the bedroom. “Marriage is insurance for the worst years of your life,” she quipped. “During your best years you don’t need a husband.”

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So after her 35s, she switches to the Beta Bucks mood. The man who marries her will only enjoy 5 years of her decaying SMV, plus the heaviest bulk of parental investing in the offspring, which will come soon after marriage. Then, the peri-menopause stage will arise and its typical symptoms (low libido, sudden changes in mood, etc.), and the guy will become "insurance" for the worst part of her life. Where you have spent your summer, there also spend your winter!

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Delaying marriage is also having economic effects: women aged 25 to 34 are the first generation to start their careers near parity with men, earning 93% of men’s wages. Single women now buy homes at greater rates than single men, a big step in independent wealth-building.

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So the wage gap becomes of little to no importance, while these women oft enjoy the better paid, white collar jobs (no feminist movement campaigns for 50% share of hazardous, unhealthy jobs). During their 20s and early 30s, they save and try to pay for the mortgage, as they struggle for "equal pay", they enjoy freebies from AFCs who pay their bills.

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In particular, poor single women face a different landscape. Not all are unmarried by choice: America’s high incarceration rate has shrunk their pool of men. Single parenthood is strongly correlated with poverty.

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No problem.Beta tax payers will take care of them.

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Sadly enough, I've been to the US, and I can attest it is just like that.