1 Marriage markets and marital status of South African mothers

This paper studies the effects of local marriage markets in the South African women’s marital decisions. The analysis is motivated by the low proportion of marriages among African South Africans and in particular among those with at least one child. Marriage market indicators have been defined at district levels as availability of economically attractive marriageable men. The analysis is done among women aged 20 to 40 who have already given birth to their first child based on South African census 2001 data. An ordered probit model is fitted with the different marital type ranked from less desirable (never married) to more attractive (married civil). African women enter civil marriages at a lesser rate than White women. The estimation results also suggest that both the quantity and quality of the marriage market matter in women marital choice. Options that are available for women besides marriage make them to be more selective in their choice of spouse and type of marriage