Australia's women working more, earning more, marrying later

Canberra is the capital of Australia and lies within the land-locked Australian Capital Territory (ACT), much like America’s capital Washington in the District of Columbia (DC).

Women in ACT consume the most alcohol in the nation. ACT men come second only to Northern Territorians. Maybe it’s because we can afford to, as we have the highest disposable annual household income in the country.

However, we do have the lowest smoking rates in the country. We also have the lowest rate of cancer, in particular lung cancer.

Over the past thirty years, Australian women (across the whole nation) are working more, earning more and delaying having children, says the Australian Bureau of Statistics. Almost 76% of women aged 20-34 in 2009 are working compared with 72% of women in 1999 and 57.1% in 1979. Male employment rates have fallen due to the decline in full time jobs over the same period.

Women are also marrying later – at an average age of 27.2 in 2009 compared with 26.4 years in 1999 and 21.7 years in 1979. The average age for a man to marry has risen from 24.1 to 26.4 years over the same period. They then re-marry at 42.2 years, while women marry again at 38.6 years of age.

MARTINA NICOLLS is an international aid and development consultant, and the author of:- The Shortness of Life: A Mongolian Lament (2015), Liberia’s Deadest Ends (2012), Bardot’s Comet (2011), Kashmir on a Knife-Edge (2010) and The Sudan Curse (2009).

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