Why are women in developed countries more sexually active before marriage?

A long list of practical

explanations cut across all belief systems:

Contraception

- With the wider use of effective contraceptives, young women do not fear unwanted pregnancy so
much as earlier generations did. The key event here was the widespread adoption of the contraceptive
pill in the early 1970s. Because this was highly effective and female-controlled, it took away most of the
anxiety about unwanted pregnancy.

Reduced Parental Supervision

- Teens are less supervised after school if both parents work full-time and may take advantage of this
opportunity for sexual activity. Increased enrollment in higher education means that a lot of young
women live apart from their families in an environment that encourages sexual expression. This is in
marked contrast to sexually restrictive societies, where young, single women are heavily chaperoned by
relatives.

Earlier Sexual Maturation of Women and Later Age of Marriage

- In the 1860s, women did not mature reproductively until the age of 16 years, compared to 11-12 years
today (2). First marriages are later today also, with European women postponing matrimony until the
age of about 29. So there is a very long interval of about 10-20 years between puberty and marriage
during which complete sexual abstinence is unlikely.

More Women in the Workforce

- As more women enter paid employment and careers, they spend more time preparing for the
workforce through third-level education. So the number of single, never-married young women is on the
rise. Most of these women are sexually active.

More Gender Equality in Jobs

- Women used to be far more economically dependent on fathers and husbands. With greater economic
independence and more female-headed households, women are freer to control their sex lives, as
feminist writers like Helen Gurley Brown (3) pointed out. This means more premarital sex and increased
single parenthood.

Women Are More Competitive and Sensation-Seeking

- Contemporary women are more competitive in a number of arenas, from sports to education, politics,
and careers. Competitiveness is associated with a hormone profile of high sex drive in both sexes (4).
Women's risk profile is converging with that of men, as illustrated by rises in problem drinking and
dangerous driving. They are also less risk-averse in sexual matters, increasing premarital sexuality.
Declining Marriage

- About a fifth of American women never marry (5). Of those who do marry, the chances of remaining
married to the same person for life are low. The time spent in marriages is decreased by divorce, even if
most divorcees remarry. In the U.S., close to half of first marriages end in divorce, and the typical
duration of a first marriage is only seven years. Between non-marriage, late marriage, and frequent
divorces, larger numbers of women live as singles than ever before, boosting premarital sex.

The Mate Market

- A large number of sexually active, single women means that men do not need to marry to enjoy an
active sex life. If a man may sleep with various attractive women without any long-term commitment, he
is less likely to propose marriage to any of them. So romantic relationships are negotiated on the basis
of what typical men want, which is sex early in a relationship with little in the way of a permanent
commitment such as marriage. (Note the irony that with “sexual liberation,” women actually lost power
in relationships at the same time that they gained power in the economy.)In a recently-published paper,
I tested out some of these ideas in a comparison of 40 countries (6). My analysis looked at acceptance of
premarital sex (that is almost perfectly correlated with self-reported sexual behavior).I found that
premarital sex increases in more developed countries that have higher-paid labor force participation by
women. Premarital sex increases in countries having weak marriages (i. e., low marriage rates, and high
divorce rates). Countries where more children are born outside of marriage are more accepting of
premarital sexuality, but very religious countries strongly reject it.