The New Marriage of Unequals

r/

Women are now more likely to marry a less-educated man than men are to marry a less-educated woman.

Comments

  1. TrixoftheTrade Avatar

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    “Once upon a time, it was fairly common for highly educated men in the United States to marry less-educated women. But beginning in the mid-20th century, as more women started to attend college, marriages seemed to move in a more egalitarian direction, at least in one respect: A greater number of men and women started partnering up with their educational equals. That trend, however, appears to have stalled and even reversed in recent years. Gaps in educational experience among heterosexual couples are growing again. And this time? It’s women who are “marrying down.””

  2. floracalendula Avatar

    > In other words, college-educated women are partnering up with the highest-earning men without degrees, Goldman said. “The remainder of non-college men are really struggling.”

    Why is this a shock? Women who have degrees tend also to have standards, and one of those standards tends to be that we’re not sugar mamas. Why marry a man who’s broke AND uneducated? No sex is that good.

  3. dcmng Avatar

    But I thought women were gold diggers

  4. ramesesbolton Avatar

    this was inevitable as women outpaced men in education

    I don’t think it’s necessarily a problem, though. I never understood why so many women (at least women in my own life) insisted that their future spouse have the same level of education attainment. I feel like other markers of compatibility are significantly more important. it always seemed like a class issue more than anything to me… like marrying someone who didn’t go to/finish college was beneath them. maybe I’m misreading it, though.

  5. Iheartthe1990s Avatar

    I don’t really like this phrasing. Having a college degree doesn’t make you superior to a person who doesn’t. And I say this as someone with a grad degree that I don’t use.