What did women usually do before their marriage?

We were married in 1962. I was 21, he was 24. These were times when it was generally expected that women married young rarely traveled before marriage and were not independent in financial matters. They did not own their own cars or house and mostly lived at home with their parents until marriage. Rarely did women have university degrees, most left school as soon as they reached 15 and worked in what was perceived as ’female’ positions. The assumption was that they would get married, produce children and stay at home to be a mother and so a tertiary education was not considered important unless one came from a family of professionals. It was generally expected that after a few years of marriage, children would eventuate, Contraception was a hit and miss affair and many unplanned pregnancies occurred. It was unusual for a couple not to reproduce, and stranger still that they would choose not to have children.
    However, I never felt pressure to have a family. My mother asked once when she was to be a grandmother and was given the reply ’never’, so the subject was not discussed again. My sister has three kids so she did not miss out on grandkids, I do not accept comments like: "Who will look after you when you are old?" I would never have had children for that purpose and do not believe this is a logical reason for producing offspring. The choice not to have children in our ease was not for selfish reasons, as was once mentioned by a person who did not know me very well, such as wanting material possessions. In fact these things are not high on our agenda. Sure, not having kids has given us more flexibility in some pursuits.
    Couples today do make decisions not to have children and up to a point, their decisions are more accepted than the past. What is wrong with women wanting to pursue a career or whatever and deciding do not fit into the scheme of things?