Marriage - is it really necessary?

In recent years, I have been plagued, as so many others out there, by this one word - MARRIAGE!!! I am 26 year old woman and hence, am technically racing past the so-called "marriageable age" in my country! Women are supposed to be married before 24 and have their first child by 25. This has been proved biologically to be the perfect age for a woman to bear a child as her body will recover in a snap!

Back from where I come, marriage has a strange connotation. If you are married, then you are "settled" in life. If you have a child, better still - you are considered "responsible"!! Strangely enough, people assume that women are happy and that their lives are made if they are married and most importantly, if they have kid(s). Why is marriage such an important part of our lives? I once read somewhere on the internet, that marriage is a social institution and that it is supposed to tie a man and a woman together and strengthen their relationship. Marriage is also considered to make a person "complete".

A particularly close friend of mine and I always have an argument when it comes to the importance of marriage. I personally feel that marriage is a convenient custom started for the benefit of the other people in a society. I have always wondered how the relationship between two people can be "strengthened" by uniting them through marriage. How does it make a person "complete"? How does it make the society more orderly and organized? My friend argues that if marriage does not exist, then people will be roaming around in a haphazard manner, getting in and out of relationships as they please. Marriage makes it more difficult to do so and binds the two people and forces them to stay under one roof and sort out their differences. My question is, why can we not do the same thing without getting married? If marriage is a commitment of emotions, then why do we have to have laws to enforce the commitment? Why can a man and a woman not live together endlessly without entering into a contractual obligation? Many argue that if the contract is not present, then either party is free to leave the other without prior notice or settlement. So, when there are no emotions left to bind the couple, what is the use of living together? Marriages can also be dissolved through the legal system based on this argument. So, why enter into this contract in the first place? The same friend that I mentioned before had an answer for this question as well. He said that in case of either party "deserting" the other, the victim would receive monetary settlement and thus be able to carry on with their lives. So, is marriage all about protection in case of desertion? What is the use of money when emotions are hurt?

As I mentioned before, I have been in the hot spot for a couple of years now. I have been coerced to "settle down" in life before it is too late...Too late for what? Is marriage really that necessary as compared to getting together with someone you love, understand and enjoy being with?