Many obstacles do not exist for the man that do exist for the woman. Owing to his position of rulership, his free choice of a mate is in no wise hampered, except by the social considerations enumerated above. But the nature of marriage as a means of support, the numerical superiority of women, and custom,—all prevent the woman from asserting her wishes. She is obliged to wait until someone seeks her. As a rule she gladly avails herself of the first opportunity of finding a husband who will save her from the social disregard and indifference that are the usual portion of that unfortunate being, the old maid. Many women look down with disdain upon those of their sisters who are possessed of sufficient human dignity not to sell themselves into the prostitution of marriage to the first man who comes along, but prefer to walk on life’s thorny path alone. Nevertheless the man who wishes to marry for love has social obstacles to consider. He must ask himself: can I support a wife and the children who are likely to come, without being weighed down by financial cares? If the man has an ideal conception of marriage, if he is determined to let his choice be influenced by love only, this question becomes all the more important. At present conditions of earning and property are such, that many men must answer this question in the negative, and they accordingly prefer to remain unmarried. Many men do not acquire an independent position, suited to their demands, until late in life, and are not able to support a wife according to her station in life unless she has a considerable fortune of her own. It must be admitted of course, that many young men have an exaggerated idea of what constitutes living according to their station; but owing to the false education of many women and their social habits, these young men must indeed be prepared that their wives will make demands upon them that will exceed their means. They frequently do not make the acquaintance of the good, modest women who are simple in their tastes, because they are modest in their manners also and are not met with in society where men have accustomed themselves to seek wives, while the women they do meet often are the kind who seek to fascinate a man by outward appearances and to deceive him in regard to their personal qualities and their material position. When this type of woman has attained an age at which marriage becomes urgent, lures of all sorts are resorted to all the more eagerly. When such a woman has succeeded in capturing a man, she has become so accustomed to outward show, extravagance in dress and costly enjoyments that she wishes to maintain them in her married life. Here men find themselves on the verge of an abyss, and many prefer to leave the flowers that bloom at this abyss unplucked. They prefer to pursue their path alone and seek entertainment and enjoyment while maintaining their freedom. Deception and fraud are common practices in bourgeois society. It is not surprising that they also play a part in the contracting of marriages and entail severe suffering of both parties.

Statistics show that the educated and wealthy classes as a rule marry later in life than the lower classes. According to Westergaard the average age of marriage in Copenhagen was: among professional people, merchants, manufacturers and bankers, 32.2 years; among mechanics and small dealers, 31.2 years; among clerks and commercial employees, 29.7 years; among waiters and domestic servants, 28, and among factory workers, sailors and day-laborers, 27.5 years. In Prussia from 1881 to 1886 the average ages at which men married were: miners, 27.6; factory workers, 27.7; metal workers, 28; stone-masons, 28.2; building trades, 28.6; workers in wood, 28.7; machinists, 29; teaching, 29.1; agriculture, 29.6; railway service, 30; commerce, 30.9; physicians, clergymen and officials, 31.8 to 33.4. According to Ansell the average age at which the well-to-do and educated classes married in England from 1840 to 1871, was 29.95 years; but since then it has been raised. From 1880 to 1885, the average ages at which men of different professions married, were as follows:

years
Miners23.56
Textile workers23.88
Clothing trades24.42
Mechanics24.85
Day-laborers25.06
Clerks25.75
Merchants26.17
Farmers28.73
Professional men and capitalists30.72

These figures show how marriage is influenced by social position. The fact that the average age of marriage in most European states has been somewhat lowered during the last decades, is due to the general growth of industrialism. This may be seen in Germany, Austria and Sweden where the increase of early marriages is in connection with the growing number of persons employed in industry. In older industrial countries, as France and England, the average age of marriage has been raised. Russia forms an exception; here the rise in the average age of marriage is due to the abolition of communal property.

The number of men who are prevented from marrying for numerous reasons is constantly increasing. This applies especially to the men of the upper classes and the higher professions; firstly because they are more pretentious, and secondly because these men are best enabled to find companionship and pleasure outside of marriage. Conditions are especially unfavorable to women in places where there are many pensioners with their families, and few young men. There we find from twenty to thirty women among hundred who are unable to marry. The lack of men seeking marriage is most severely felt by those women, who have been accustomed by their social position to require a certain standard of life but who have no dowery. This is especially true of the young girls of those numerous families that depend upon a fixed salary which leaves them socially respectable but poor. These girls often become dangerous competitors to the working girls who earn their living by embroidery, making underwear, making artificial flowers, hats, gloves, etc.; that is, in all those trades in which the employers prefer to have the work done in the homes of the workers. These ladies often work for the lowest wages because they are not obliged to earn their living entirely but only wish to add to the family income or to earn enough to pay for their clothes. Employers favor the competition of these ladies, because it enables them to reduce the wages of the poor proletarian workers and to drive them to the utmost exertion of their strength. Many wives of government officials, whose husbands are poorly paid and cannot maintain them according to their standard of living, also employ their spare time in such sordid competition, which means increased exploitation among large strata of female proletarians.

The agitation carried on by the bourgeois women’s clubs to elevate women’s work and to gain admission for women into the higher professions, is especially destined to improve the position of women of the upper classes. In order to do this successfully, these clubs seek the patronage of ladies of high rank. In this respect the bourgeois women only follow the example of the bourgeois men, who also seek such patronage and become interested in such endeavors that only show small, never large results. In this way people waste a tremendous amount of effort, and deceive themselves and others in regard to the necessity of thorough-going reform. In these circles no doubt is permitted to arise as to the justice and wisdom of our present state and social order. The conservative nature of such endeavors prevent clubs of this kind from being permeated by so-called destructive tendencies. At a convention of women in Berlin during the spring of 1894, a minority expressed the thought that it might be well if the bourgeois women would co-operate with the proletarian women, that is, the Socialist women; but with a majority of the delegates this suggestion called forth a storm of protest. But the conservative tendencies of the bourgeois women will not accomplish the liberation of womankind.

How many women are excluded from marriage owing to the causes previously stated, cannot be definitely determined. The numerical superiority of women in Germany is distributed very unevenly, both in regard to the different countries and districts and in regard to age. The following table has been compiled from the census of 1900 (Statistic of the German Empire):

Number of women for every 1000 men
under 15 15 to 4040 to 60 over 60
Berlin1012 10441191 1659
Kingdom of Saxony1015 10301107 1360
“ “ Bavaria to the right of the Rhine1015 10241083 1163
“ “ Bavaria to the left of the Rhine 986 9971070 1157
“ “ Wurtemberg1015 10411134 1179
Baden1000 9741079 1173
Hamburg 999 10311038 1454
Province of Brandenburg 993 10151089 1276
“ “ Pomerania 989 10351099 1214
“ “ the Rhine 991 9541008 1120
German Empire 995 10081087 1218

At the true marriageable age, from 15 to 40 years, the numerical superiority of women in the entire German Empire is 8 for every 1,000 men. The number of male inhabitants between 15 and 40 years of age is 11,100,673; the number of female inhabitants between 15 and 40 years of age is 11,187,779. So we have a super-abundance of 87,106 women. In 1900 there were 11,146,833 German women of child-bearing age (18 to 45 years). Among these only 6,432,772 (57.71 percent) were married; 283,629 (2.54 percent) were widowed; 31,176 (0.28 percent) were divorced, and 4,399,286 (39.47 percent) were single. The following table shows the proportion of the sexes in other countries:

In the yearNumber of women for every 1000 men
under 15 15 to 4040 to 60 over 60
Germany1900 995 10081087 1218
Austria18901005 10461079 1130
Hungary1900 998 1029 982 1033
Servia1896 969 952 925 804
Italy1881 963 10211005 980
Switzerland1888 999 10591103 1148
France1896 998 10121029 1108
Louxembourg1900 992 853 988 1063
Belgium1890 992 9841018 1117
Netherlands1899 986 10311031 1145
Denmark1890 978 10801073 1179
Sweden1899 971 10161146 1252
England and Wales18911006 10751096 1227
Scotland1891 973 10731165 1389
Ireland1901 968 10371103 1032
United States of America1900 979 969 989 987
Egypt1897 943 996 943 1015
Japan1891 978 962 951 1146
New South Wales1891 978 827 679 665
Queensland1891 976 698 559 611
Tasmania1891 977 877 898 632
New Zealand1891 979 927 661 654
Cape of Good Hope1891 989 1008 939 1019