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I don't think I agree with this, ultimately. Or, at least, I think what has happened is that women have been able to acquire an outsized amount of financial support/security at nearly every level of society, so there is almost, almost ZERO chance that any given woman will be left destitute and homeless if she doesn't get married.
That is, women have almost zero downside risk exposure from being single. Putting it bluntly (without adopting the point) the risk of being left broke and without prospects was a MASSIVE incentive for women to achieve stability by finding a reliable provider. Stability with a partner, even if they're not necessarily wealthy, still beats out living on the streets.
That incentive has been removed, while their upside opportunities have also increased.
So I think that the benefits have increased in many ways. The synergistic effects of getting and staying married are probably stronger than before. But the "penalties" for being unmarried are no longer so severe.
Yeah, and it's easier to identify such person if you have
A) Good examples in your own life to use as reference, and
B) are willing and able to have your parents, who are also very invested in the decision, have some input.
So many people growing up in broken families are probably less able to identify those high-value mates, which likely exacerbates the issue.
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