You may think that donning that perfect white dress and lobbing the gob at the alter in front of your nearest and dearest is every little girl’s dream, but it seems modern children have set their sights higher.
A study conducted by Girl Guides and published in The Telegraph reveals that only a small few see marriage as the mark of success and less than half of girls see marriage as the best kind of relationship.
The survey interviewed 1,000 boys and girls between the ages of seven and 21.
It seems the modern girl is not dreaming about fairy princesses and happy ever afters and a third of girls believe that unmarried couples make better parents than those who are married.
Interestingly, the boys surveyed still see marriage as an aspiration with 56 per cent of them revealing that marriage was the best kind of relationship while over half of them believe that married couples make better parents than those who haven’t tied the knot.
The study also revealed that young girls are more career motivated than ever before with only 19 per cent of girls believing that their career opportunities were worse than their mother’s.
Young girls do not see marriage as success in 2012
However, 38 per cent of boys expect to be less successful than their fathers.
Gill Slocombe, a spokesperson from Girl Guides said: “Young women today have strong opinions, and some of these are very different from the boys’.
“They believe they have it better than their mothers’ generation and they prize their independence and education.
“Girls still value family and marriage but they clearly do not see this as the absolute definition of success.
“They value confidence, so it is a great shame that despite this they feel they are judged on their looks and believe that society wouldn’t value them if they focus on motherhood or work in a caring profession,” she said.
Do you think the modern girl has the right idea? Her.ie certainly think she does!
