Asian have modern views on marriage: Survey

Asian have modern views on marriage: Survey

SINGAPORE (JP): The latest Asian Ideals survey, conducted by
MasterCard International, revealed that Asians have modern
attitudes towards money matters in marriages.

Regionally, 50 percent were in favor of a joint bank account
for married couples, 38 percent were not in favorite and 11
percent were undecided.

Support for a joint account was highest in Australia (73
percent), India (72 percent), the Philippines (70 percent),
Singapore (63 percent) and New Zealand (62 percent) and poorest
in Thailand (39 percent), Taiwan (31 percent), Indonesia (30
percent) and Japan (11 percent).

Conducted in December 1997, the latest Asian Ideals survey
sought Asian views on marriage, family and relationships. The
survey was conducted in 13 countries: Australia, China, Hong
Kong, India, Indonesia, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, New Zealand,
Philippines, Singapore, Taiwan and Thailand.

Except for Indonesia and Korea where interestingly, the wife
was favored to manage the money in the family, consumers in all
other countries believed that the money in the family should be
managed by both husband and wife. Across the region, 55 percent
of consumers were agreeable to the idea of joint management of
finances, 27 percent believed it was the wife's task and only 13
percent believed this was a husband's responsibility. Support for
the husband over the wife was evident only in Malaysia (22
percent for husband vs 10 percent for wife) and India (22 percent
for husband vs 16 percent for wife).

When asked to choose between money or happiness, the
overwhelming choice across Asia was happiness (55 percent),
followed by money and happiness equally (38 percent). Less than
10 percent in each country, except Japan, considered money more
important. The Japanese were the only consumers to put money (21
percent) ahead of happiness (13 percent), a release of the survey
reached The Jakarta Post said.

"Having it all is important, but today's young Asians are
keenly aware that a healthy bank account won't automatically
guarantee happiness. By choosing happiness over material wealth,
Asians are showing that the more traditional values are still
alive," said Jonathon Gould, MasterCard International senior vice
president, Marketing, Asia/Pacific.

For almost all consumers, problems over money only occurred
sometimes (27 percent), rarely (30 percent) or almost never/never
(33 percent). Only the Japanese tended to argue fairly often (33
percent) or even very often (18 percent) with their spouse over
money.

Traditionally in Asia, husbands worked while their wives
stayed home. Ties have changed. An overwhelming 73 percent
believed both partners should work after marriage. a small
percentage, only 14 percent, were not in favor of the idea.
Consumers in Hong Kong (92 percent), China (91 percent) Thailand
(90 percent) and the Philippines (90 percent) favored both
partners working. Those from Malaysia (78 percent), Singapore (76
percent), Japan (70 percent), India (69 percent), and Australia
were likewise inclined to double income households, but to a
lesser degree. Resistance to double-income households was most
evident among consumers in Korea (31 percent), Indonesia (31
percent), India (24 percent), Japan (21 percent).

Marriage

Asian consumers believe marriage can wait, according to the
survey. The ideal age for marriage was seen as 27 and 28 among
consumers from China, Japan, Australia, Philippines, Taiwan,
Indonesia and Korea. Those from India, Malaysia, Singapore and
New Zealand preferred a slightly younger marrying age of 25 and
26, while their counterparts in Thailand and Hong Kong viewed 29
and 30 as ideal.

In eight out of the 13 countries surveyed, consumers' ideal
marriage age corresponded with their ideal age to have children.
However, in the rest of the countries, the ideal age was one year
later suggesting that consumers preferred to have children almost
immediately after marriage. Only Singaporeans (38 percent)
believed it was best to have children after having been married
for a few years.

Another sign that today's Asians have become more modern and
career-oriented: half of those surveyed (51 percent) announced
they would be happy to remain single. Thai (93 percent) and
Indonesian (80 percent) singles were much more inclined to want
to remain single. The Taiwanese (65 percent) and Hong Kongers (60
percent) were similarly inclined, albeit to a lesser degree.
Filipino (32%), Japanese (30%), Indian (28%), and Malaysian (22%)
singles were less inclined to prefer to stay single.

Gould said: "Asians today are still family-oriented but the
Asian Ideals survey shows than young Asians have become
independent and their careers are taking on more importance."

"For today's modern Asians, getting married after attending
university is just one of several options, not a foregone
conclusion."

Asians have become increasingly more comfortable about
selecting a partner of a different nationality. Across the
region, approximately half of Asian consumers would marry someone
of a different nationality. Consumers from Hong Kong (88
percent), Australia (87 percent), New Zealand (78 percent),
Thailand (69 percent) again were most open-minded on this issue,
while those from India (29 percent), Malaysia (21 percent), Japan
(20 percent) and Korea (12 percent) held slightly more
traditional beliefs.

"We live in a global village and interaction among different
nationalities and races is not only common today, but expected.
This frequent interaction has resulted in more inter-racial
marriages in Asia than ever before. The survey confirms that
Asians have learned to accept and in some cases, even embrace,
different cultures," added Gould.

The survey revealed that Asians today have become more open-
minded about marrying other races. The trend was particularly
evident among Australians (78 percent), Thais (76 percent),
Indonesians (71 percent), Hong Kongers (70 percent), Kiwis (69
percent) and Filipinos (59 percent). While open to marrying a
partner of a different race, the Taiwanese (52 percent),
Malaysians (52 percent), Koreans (50 percent), Singaporeans (48
percent) and Indians (45 percent) seemed more conservative on
this issue.

As for marrying a partner from a different religion, consumers
from Hong Kong (80 percent) and Australia (72 percent) were most
agreeable to the idea, followed by Thailand (62 percent) and New
Zealand (61 percent). Indians (33 percent), Malaysians (16
percent), Koreans (14 percent) and Indonesians (10 percent)
indicated more reluctance.

The old notion of Asians wanting many children apparently no
longer holds true. The survey revealed that 70 percent of
consumers considered two children or less as ideal, and less than
10 percent of those surveyed wanted to have more than three
children.

In today's modern households where both partners are employed,
responsibility for the caring of children was perceived to be
primarily the grandparents' role. Over all, 42 percent of those
surveyed believed grandparents are in the best position to take
care of children when both partners are at work. 18 percent
preferred day care center/service, 14 percent suggested a
relative and only 10 percent preferred a babysitter or maid. Day
care centers seemed to be extremely popular among the Japanese
(62 percent) while "relative" represented a dominant force in the
Philippines (41 percent), Indonesia (28 percent), and
surprisingly, New Zealand (25 percent). After grandparents,
"babysitters" were the favorite option for those in Taiwan (27
percent) and Malaysia (23 percent).