'Back then' life was hard and both men and women had work their asses off just to put food on the table however, having children was not shunned at all. There was no such thing as contraception so, men, especially, did not have access to free sex. They had to pay for it at the local Brothel and food was really the first priority.
Luckily, for men, feminism came along which, in its effort to make women equal to men ushered in contraceptives. Now, a woman could have sex just like a man and walk away clean. Unfortunately, when a woman 'forgets' to take contraception or maybe does not want to tell the man to wear a condom, 'unwanted' children are born and women are saddled with raising them. Also, feminism has diluted marriage to mean any 2 people, not just men and women which it was designed for.
Bottom line, when sex came with the real possibility of impregnation, women were not so eager to have procreational sex. In fact, to ensure she was not left alone to raise a child, women and society embraced the institution of marriage
In order to get sex and have children, men had to prove they could provide and had to be of good character before a woman would consider him even a valid suitor for marriage.
It is really up to women to just say no and hold out for a good man, of which there are fewer and fewer.