Written by: Akshita Pandey, Muskan Shah, Moitrayee Das
In India, one’s marital status is not generally seen as a private matter. Whether a person’s marital status affects their perception, where they will live, how their family perceives them, or how they themselves will be recognized by the society are some of the issues related to marriage in India. That is why the increasing number of single women in India is not just a matter of demographics; it is also a challenge to the existing social system.
The Current Scenario
It is hard to dismiss the figures. The Census of 2011 showed that 71.4 million single women lived in India, ranging from those who were never married to those who were widowed, divorced or abandoned. This was a 39% rise compared to the last decade, accounting for 12% of the total female population (Chattopadhyay, 2026). However, even this number needs to be taken critically. The term ‘single’ is an extremely inclusive term: it applies both to those who are single by choice and those who are single because of widowhood, divorce or abandonment.
The issue may become even more pressing in light of the 2027 census. According to Chattopadhyay (2026), cohabitation couples could be possibly lumped together with married couples. This is far from an innocuous statistical classification, because if cohabitation is regarded as marriage, then the number of people defined as singles can be deliberately lowered, turning a novel social trend into something more conventional. In addition, such incorrect classification can lead to adverse policy outcomes because it can prevent single individuals from enjoying the same rights as married couples.
But the deeper problem is not how India counts single women. It is why being single remains so difficult to live.
“Who will take care of you?”
In Sarah Lamb’s ethnography, it is evident that “single women in India are not all of one piece.” Her ethnography includes women of various ages, from different socioeconomic and caste backgrounds, as well as from various walks of life, such as young professionals in the cities, agricultural laborers in rural India, single mothers, widows, and also women who consciously eschewed marriage (Lamb, 2022). But what these diverse stories share is the pressure to marry because it is considered legitimate belonging.
The question asked again and again by single women is revealing: “Who will take care of you?” (Lamb, 2022). At first glance, it seems well-meaning. However, it can also be used as social pressure, suggesting that the woman without a man in her life has not been able to plan for her future. The implication behind this question is that care should primarily be provided through marriage. Hence, the woman not getting married must prove her past, present, and future lives.
This fear is especially insightful in its demonstration of the gendered dynamics involved in dependency. While marriage has been framed as something that ensures women’s security, it also means that security is contingent upon marriage itself. When issues of housing, social inclusion, finances, and even family legitimacy depend upon marital status, the decision to remain unmarried becomes much more difficult than the decision not to marry.
Independent, But Still Judged
This conflict is very clear through the experiences shared by Pandey (2022). The way Pandey describes the experience of women calling themselves “proudly single” shows how there is an increasing tendency to break away from the notion that marriage is a definite conclusion to a woman’s life. However, even though they are able to do this, they continue to live in societies where being single could lead to being stigmatized. For example, in rural India, an unmarried woman could be seen as a liability while a widow could be socially ostracized (Pandey, 2022).
However, economic independence does have value, yet it will not address all issues. As demonstrated in their ethnography, Mukherjee et al. (2025) reveal that being single in urban India has multiple facets, which include gender, class, age, and life situations. It is true that resilience and independence are some of the assets that the authors find, although they also identify loneliness, social pressure, discrimination in employment and the need for community support. Independence is never simply the result of individual efforts, since it relies on the existence of a society that supports such independence.
This also raises a paradox in terms of India’s economic treatment of single women. According to McGraw (2023), in his interview with Sreemoyee Piu Kundu and Ketaki Chowkhani, “single women are more prominent than ever as consumers and laborers but still function as social disrupters.” For example, according to Kundu, it is estimated that “single women comprise about 30-50% of the workforce at some corporations,” which highlights their importance in the economy. Nonetheless, these women could receive judgment simply because they do not adhere to traditional marital roles.
Thus, this highlights the limitations of the ‘empowered single woman’ narrative. While India has become more willing to accept single women as workers, consumers, and professionals, does it show equal willingness to accept them as a whole? Even while a woman is earning money herself, she might still face questions as to why she is unmarried. She might be leading an independent life but might still be subject to questioning. She may be having her own relationships but then again might have to justify them.
The issue, then, is not whether women should choose marriage or singlehood. It is whether either choice can genuinely exist without punishment.
Being single does not need to become an empowering phenomenon, just like marriage should not be considered the yardstick by which to judge the success of a woman. The real issue here is social legitimacy. Indian society requires systems of housing, welfare, health care, and social security that do not take for granted that people will get married.
These 71.4 million women were not merely “women without husbands” but women who have their own unique life story, situation and decisions (Chattopadhyay, 2026). The problem with India is that it continues to view their marital status as the key characteristic. The question never was if women choose to stay single to not, but whether, we, as a country, choose to let them do so without any penalty.
References
Chattopadhyay, K. C. S. (2026, August 8). Will the 2027 census correctly count the number of single women in India and not club cohabitation with marriage? Mint. https://www.livemint.com/mint-lounge/business-of-life/india-census-2027-singles-marriage-cohabitation-law-11786095225144.html
Lamb, S. (2022). Being Single in India: Stories of Gender, Exclusion, and Possibility. Jstor.Org. https://www.jstor.org/content/oa_book_monograph/j.ctv2rb75xx
McGraw, P. (2023, August 3). The truth about single women in India. Peter McGraw. https://petermcgraw.org/the-truth-about-single-women-in-india
Mukherjee, S., Kumar, P., & Mukherjee, A. (2025). Reimagining singlehood in urban India through intersectional narratives and support systems: An ethnographic study. Journal of Marital and Family Therapy, 51(3). https://doi.org/10.1111/jmft.70049
Pandey, G. (2022, December 8). The Indian women calling themselves ‘proudly single.’ BBC News. https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-63873033
Akshita Pandey is a fourth-year undergraduate psychology student at FLAME University, Pune; Moitrayee Das is an assistant professor of psychology at FLAME University, Pune; and Muskan Shah is a research assistant at FLAME University, Pune.