Ever wondered why Bridget Jones’s Diary spawned a phenomenon of chick-lit on the theme of single women? It might be because we are, increasingly a nation of singletons. Single-person households now account for 29% of all UK homes and half of Londoners aged between 20 and 59 are single. Census figures in the US also show that proportion of 20-24-year-old American women who have not married doubled from 36% to 73%. Worry not, this is a worldwide phenomenon!
Bridget may be a caricature, but only just. Her creator, Helen Fielding, has drawn someone much more human and recognizable than the elegant and wealthy young New York singles in the TV shows “Friends” and “Sex and the City”. Yet all three portray the people who now dominate and shape the rich world’s city life, not just in New York and London, but increasingly in Tokyo, Stockholm, Paris and Santiago: well-educated, single professionals in their 20s and 30s. Moralists fret about them; marketing folks court them; urban developers want to lure them. They are the main consumers and producers of the creative economy that revolves around advertising, publishing, entertainment and media. More than any other social group, they have time, money and a passion for spending on whatever is fashionable, frivolous and fun.
What explains the trend? The key seems to be the higher education of women. In most rich countries, more women than men now go to university; in particular, women make up more than half the students taking professional qualifications in subjects such as law and medicine. As new job opportunities unfold, they often earn as much as similarly qualified men. They find work is fun and it pays well, so they put off marriage; husbands and babies can wait.
Because young singles have so much disposable money and because they set so many trends, they are a market that many companies long to sell to.
The boyfriend-hunt is a big part of Bridget’s life. And so it is with real-life Bridgets, many of whom find the big cities to which they flock lonely places. In competitive New York, the problem is at its worst: the Machiavellian brutality of office politics makes it hard to form friendships with the folk at work. Besides, many young New Yorkers live alone in tiny apartments, and the only way to meet people is to go out.
Londoners, including myself, typically share, finding a flat through the pages of Loot, or online with gumtree.com, moveflat.com or spareroom.co.uk. In London, the third woman could expect to meet the friends of her flat-mates in front of the television in the living room, or scavenging in the fridge in the communal kitchen.
Finding Bridget a mate has produced all sorts of entrepreneurial solutions. Lots of them are on the Internet, allowing the hunt to continue through working hours.
But if online dating fails, try to come up with a few reasons why being single is OK. I had a brainstorming session with a few of my single friends and we came up with the following facts:
- You have more time to focus on your career
- Single women can use their sexuality to get the upper-hand in the office power struggles – and you can have fun doing it!
- You can spend your hard-earned cash on yourself rather than running a household filled with boyfriend/husband/screaming kids
- You can freely flirt and get random strangers to buy you drinks
- Singletons have more sex than their married counterparts (arguably!)
- Finally don’t forget that after all, you are ‘the girl next door’
In a nutshell, enjoy being single while you can!
