It’s a leap year, I want a wedding – but I won’t ask my boyfriend to marry me

Here’s my great conflict: I am a feminist and a hopeless romantic, writes Rosamund Hall. I have been married and divorced. I am now in a committed relationship with my partner and our young son. Nothing about our relationship feels lacking, yet I still want to get married – and I don’t want to be the one to propose...

Will you marry me, darling? (Getty Images)

Feminism and marriage do not go together like a horse and carriage. Today is 29 February – a leap year – and as well as it being the extra day we get to make sure our calendar year matches the solar year, it’s also the day that women can traditionally ask their partner to marry them.

But while such an archaic tradition is now universally accepted as a ridiculous idea (we are, of course, able to make declarations of marriage whenever we choose – as well as choosing not to get married at all if we don’t want to) – I can’t help but admit that I gave it some thought.

And here’s my great conflict: for I write this both as a feminist and a hopeless romantic. I have been married and divorced. And I am now in a committed relationship with my partner and our young son. Nothing about our relationship feels lacking, yet I still want to get married again – and more importantly, I don’t want to be the one to propose.