Sheng nu cites studies that show that women are now breaking the tradition of "mandatory marriage" to have fewer children or marry later on in life. Other typologically similar terms that are still used in the modern lexicon of other countries and cultures show the concept has existed in some cases as far back as the 16th century. The term spinster was used to describe unmarried or single women of a marriageable age. It wasn't until 2004 when the Civil Partnership Act replaced the word spinster with "single" in the relationship history section of marriage certificates in the UK. Subsequently, at the
Marriage certificate marriage has been performed. A marriage certificate may be required for a number of reasons. It may be required as evidence of change of a party's name, on issues of legitimacy of a child, during divorce proceedings, or as part of a genealogical history, besides other purposes., Though marriage in Australia is regulated under federal law, the registration of marriages takes place under the respective state or territory laws, generally through an agency named "Registry of Births, Deaths and Marriages" or similar, and marriage certificates are issued by these agencies. Under Federal law, a certificate is issued at the time