Having more rights than in previous centuries has given women great opportunities, one of them being the ability to work and earn their own fortune. Therefore, this has liberated women from the necessity to get married and be bound to men due to monetary support. In my view, these social and economic changes have mainly affected the current marriage rates, eliminating the number of fake, arranged and forced marriages, which, ultimately, seems to be a positive development.
To start off, the marriage itself if based on the consensus regarding money and not on love and mutual affection is wrong and has always been so, since it brings a multitude of restrictions and burdens for everyone, especially women. First of all, they will be boxed in guilt, inasmuch as, if men provide women with everything, then the latter, ideally, must be thankful and should do everything to prove their gratitude by their deeds and attitude, and if they do not, then they might be called downright awful and disobedient wives. Admittedly, this has always been harmful for women and, moreover, for their children, since females, who are relatively vulnerable creatures, when being oppressed, might lose self-confidence and self-worth, and this will inevitably have its impact on children. In other words, women who lack affection and a gentle attitude to them are liable to become irritated, quarrelsome and harsh, and offspring are likely to become the first ones who will encounter this, since they have a close connection to their mothers. Therefore, marrying purely for the sake of financial security has ever been a fundamentally flawed decision, be it the 21st century or the Middle Ages.
In turn, women who have got a well paid job and are able to provide for themselves, in essence, have a wider variety of future partners to choose from, even without the need for any real commitments. In many developed countries, they indeed are not restricted anymore by the concern of marrying somebody merely to ensure obtaining financial support, and this directly leads to the decline in marriage statistics. Earning their own income makes females significantly more independent and freer; thus, now they have a multitude of opportunities in life, and marrying is by far not the most appealing option for many. One must admit that having an occupation and making profit supplies women with an ability to travel, study, and not be bound to a man simply because of money. Consequently, females can find a male who genuinely loves and adores them, who has an inner desire to provide for his woman out of love rather than out of selfish, self-indulgent motivations. The result of said mutual connection and love is the loving parents who will pass this love on to their children.
In light of the above, I can conclude that access to work for women has played a considerable role in relation to their decisions in respect of marriage. More and more females refrain from getting married these days because of their financial autonomy, and this change, in my view, is for the better.