The Effect of Delayed Marriage of Men on the Delaying Marriage of Woman

Delayed marriage of women during two decades has been considered in some researches, only as a result of marriage squeeze which still opens to discuss. However, all studies indicated that postponed marriage among women is greater than men. Given the age structure and sex composition of Iran's population and in light of the current research on delayed male marriage in Iran, the paper attempts to address the question that to what extent delayed male marriage affects the tempo of marriage among women. Using the data from censuses 1966 to 2006 and a national sample survey in 2001, the age pattern of marriage by sex and the relationship between age at male and female marriage is investigated. The paper concludes that male tendency to marry with younger women can delay marriage among women, when they postpone their marriage-- even in the absent of marriage squeeze. By comparing age pattern of male and female marriage and using life table method, nuptiality table, it is argued that the extent of delaying marriage among women is affected by delayed marriage among men. In addition, because of the foregoing tendency among those men who delayed their marriage to 30 years old and over, marriage chance among the women, who postponed their marriage to age 30, declines to less than 10 percent (of the total population never married at the age