WMNST 325 Lecture Notes - Lecture 8: Household Division, Physical Attractiveness, Decision-Making
Document Summary
90% of people in western societies get married. People delay marriage (25 for women, 26-27 for men) Gives women more education and work experience and time in professional life. Women who marry later are less likely to shift dependency on parents to dependency on spouse. Found that cultural differences bigger than gender differences. Across cultures, women were somewhat more likely to emphasize mate"s earning capacity and ambition; men more likely to emphasize good looks and physical attractiveness. Women"s preferences for men with material resources was greatest in countries where women had the least ability to gain social power on their own. If they were denied opportunities for education and work, they preferred mates that could support them. Tendency for women to marry up and men to marry down by sorting themselves into couples in which the man has higher prestige and income potential. Marrying up in terms of socio-economic status concerning money, status, and power.
