Relationships from internet dating found to reduce gendered divisions of household labour in Germany
The relationship between internet dating and gendered divisions of household labour is challenged in a joint report from the University of Liverpool and the University of Southern California.
In 2023, two in every five couples are reported to meet online. Online dating has modified how people find and select partners. Researchers argue that by overturning traditional courtship practices, online courtship may set the course for partnerships that display a more equal distribution of routine household labour.
Online dating gives a structural advantage to women, as more men than women use websites, phone apps, or social networks to find a partner. This gives women more bargaining power to more easily assert their preferences and expectations in a long-term partnership in interactions with men.
Dating apps, like Bumble for instance, are also disrupting traditional ‘dating scripts’ by encouraging female users to make the first contact with their matches. The research found having more equal dynamics in place from the beginning of the relationship to reverberate throughout the course of the relationship.
By providing women with greater bargaining power, increased options, and opportunities to engage in more open and assertive conversations with men, digital dating was found to encourage romantic partnerships that deviated from typical gendered constraints, resulting in more equally distributed relationship practices, particularly for low educated married women.
Dr Gina Potarca, Department of Sociology, Social Policy, and Criminology, University of Liverpool, co-authored the report. Gina shared:
“Compared to traditional ways of meeting, digital spaces of partner selection provide women an over-supply of options and more freedom to initiate and assert preferences in interactions with men. Particularly for married women with lower education, who are often associated with less egalitarian unions, these benefits enable them to defy traditional gender norms within marriage. This is achieved by fostering more egalitarian couple dynamics from the outset.”
Geographical proximity to family may also play a role in gender roles in the household. Married couples who live further away from family also tend to have a more equal approach to household labour. This was also found when interviewing couples who met through online dating. The couples tended to have smaller social networks and lived further away from family and friends.
Professor Jennifer Hook, Professor of Sociology, University of Southern California, report co-author, said:
“Despite widely discussed negative aspects of internet dating, meeting online doesn't exacerbate gender inequality in housework among couples who proceed to living together. That's an important finding given how common it is to meet online. It's a silver lining that it increases egalitarian housework practices for women least likely to attain them when meeting offline.”
The report was funded by the Swiss National Science Foundation. This study builds upon previous research conducted by Dr Gina Potarca, which explored whether online dating was shifting educational inequalities in marriage formation in Germany.