Parents of girls in UK now believe their financial security relies more on a good education and career than on marriage.
Research into attitudes towards marriage, carried out to mark the bicentenary of the publication of Pride and Prejudice, found that 38 per cent of parents of sons believe their boy's financial security is dependent on them having a rich wife.
The poll of 1,000 parents carried out by the insurers Scottish Widows, found that 32 per cent of parents with daughters thought they needed to marry for financial reasons, the 'Daily Mail' reported.
Unlike the period described in Jane Austen's novel, which was published on January 28, 1813, parents today clearly think that women can make it on their own.
Nearly eight out of ten parents with daughters think doing well at school and university and getting a good job is the answer to achieving the greatest financial security for the future.
"In the 19th century, for girls of Elizabeth Bennet's class, work would have been socially disastrous," Jane Humphries, Professor of Economic History at Oxford University, said.
"Girls no longer need dowries and settlements to attract husbands, they need down payments and student loans to get them on the property ladder and through higher education," Humphries said.
