JOURNAL ARTICLE

Does Online Dating Challenge Gendered Divisions of Household Labor?

  • Published In: Social Forces, 2023, v. 102, n. 2. P. 633 1 of 3

  • Database: Academic Search Ultimate 2 of 3

  • Authored By: Potarca, Gina; Hook, Jennifer 3 of 3

Abstract

This article examines how meeting partners online influences the division of routine household labor among women in opposite-sex marital and cohabiting unions in Germany, using data from the 2008–2019 German Family Panel (pairfam). The study finds that married women with non-tertiary (lower) education who met their partners online report a more egalitarian sharing of housework compared to those who met offline, an effect partially explained by selection into online dating but not mediated by partnership quality. No significant online dating effect is observed among cohabiting women or those with tertiary education. The findings suggest that online dating may provide lower-educated married women greater bargaining power or access to more egalitarian partners, contributing to a modest shift toward gender equity in domestic labor, though much of this association remains unexplained by measured factors.

Additional Information

  • Source:Social Forces. 2023/12, Vol. 102, Issue 2, p633
  • Document Type:Article
  • Subject Area:Social Sciences and Humanities
  • Publication Date:2023
  • ISSN:0037-7732
  • DOI:10.1093/sf/soad080
  • Accession Number:172954859
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