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
The Spinster and Her Enemies The Women's Forum". "The Spinster and Her Enemies" received positive reviews from the biographer Phyllis Grosskurth in "The Times Literary Supplement", the historian Lillian Faderman in the "American Journal of Sociology", and Penny Summerfield in "Victorian Studies". The book was also reviewed by Anne Summers in "Sociology of Health & Illness", Judith Wishnia in "Contemporary Sociology", the historian Marilyn Lake in "Signs", and Ruth Doell in the "Journal of Homosexuality", and discussed by Margaret Hunt in "Feminist Review". Grosskurth, writing in 1986, called "The Spinster and Her Enemies" one of the best studies on the "struggle of women in history"