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
Spinster a television series. In Jane Austen's "Emma", the character Miss Bates is a spinster, and Austen (who never married) gives her stereotypical negative characteristics such as garrulousness. Bob Dylan's song "The Lonesome Death of Hattie Carroll" (1963) tells the true story of a murder at a spinsters' ball in Baltimore in 1963. Paul McCartney, while in the band the Beatles, composed the hit song "Eleanor Rigby" (1966) about the loneliness and death of a spinster (though he never used the term in the lyrics). The country song "Delta Dawn", made famous by Tanya Tucker, overviews the plight of a woman