Friday, December 20, 2002

A story published in Mclean’s reports that until the 1970s, women generally followed a well-established calendar of leaving home, getting married and giving birth. The median age at first marriage for women in the early 1970s was 21. In 1996, it was 26. Today there are 769,000 females 15 and over in Canada who have never married. Of that number, 68 percent are between 25 and 44. The number of unmarried Canadian and American females buying houses has increased 250 percent in the past decade.

Lianne Thompson was 33 when she bought her first house. She was 34 when she called Children's Bridge, an Ottawa-based international adoption agency. "I had always wanted children," she says. "And I hoped that the husband was going to show up, but I wasn't going to wait any longer." In 1998, having saved enough money, Thompson adjusted her work schedule -- she's an executive with CMA Canada, an accounting association -- and moved offices so she'd have a shorter commute. She then began the process to adopt a Chinese baby she named Bryanna.

Last month, the two moved into a new home in Mississauga, Ont. It's roomier -- big enough to accommodate the second Chinese daughter Thompson will be adopting in the spring. "I would be completely happy to still meet a husband," says Thompson, 40. "There are times when I am exhausted and think it would be so much easier with someone. But I've never regretted it. Never."

Luck has so far eluded Veronica Vinje, but her single status has propelled her into a project she hopes to build into a business. Vinje started Miss V's Social Empire, a cocktail hour for dynamic people 40 and under, regardless of relationship status. After two years, she now has more than 800 people on her invitation list and a ton of new friends. And while she still hasn't found the right man, Vinje says that's no longer her top priority. "I'm going to close that part of my life, but not lock it. It's like there was a draft there and it was sucking the energy out of me."

With so many women reaching the same point, businesses are scrambling to tap into that demographic. For Lori Bowie, Fort Langley, B.C.-based owner of West Coast Women Adventures, building a business around women over 30 looking to try new activities was a no-brainer. Women who go on Bowie's sea kayaking, cycling, hiking and horseback riding trips want to feel comfortable being on their own, she explains, and yet still share the experience with others without feeling competitive. "In all of our evaluations, the number 1 thing mentioned was just meeting the other women."