Early Women, Late Men: Timing Attitudes and Gender Differences in Marriage

Abstract

Around the world, women marry earlier than men, but it is not well understood why this gender gap exists. Using panel data collected in Nepal, the authors investigate whether attitudes about marital timing held by unmarried youth and their parents account for women marrying earlier than men. They also examine whether the influence of timing attitudes differs by gender. On average, unmarried youth and their parents viewed 20 to 25 as acceptable ages for women to marry, while ages 23 to 30 were appropriate for men. In turn, women entering the acceptable marriage age range earlier than men accounted for a third of the gender gap in marital timing. The influence of youth and parents’ timing attitudes did differ by gender, but only at the extreme. When they were much too young for marriage, both genders were less likely to marry, but this dampening effect was substantially larger for women.

Mass Education, International Travel, and Ideal Ages at Marriage

“…This interesting result demonstrates that education may magnify other gendered expectations about work, pay, and financial independence, such as higher expectations for men to have work success before marriage (Oppenheimer 2003;Thornton et al 2007). In this case, greater educational attainment appears to lead both men and women to believe men should marry later than women, consistent with other recent work on gender and marriage in Nepal (Allendorf et al 2017).…”

“…This is particularly true in rural agricultural societies, such as Nepal, where patriarchal norms historically limit women's opportunities outside the home. For example, women still marry much younger than men (Allendorf et al 2017;Yabiku 2005), and school enrollment and educational attainment remain higher for boys than girls (Stash and Hannum 2001). Because the role changes from increased enrollment are likely to be greater for women, the association between education and attitude change will be stronger for women.…”

Education, gender, and generational change: The transformation of dowry in village Nepal

“…This is a dramatic contrast to the preceding generation where marriage took place in Ishwa and Prithvi’s case at 9 and 7 years of age respectively. Allendorf et al (2017) argue that because Nepali women are expected to be virgins at marriage, marrying young ensures their reputation, virginity and purity remain intact. Bahun young women continue to marry at a younger age (late teens, early twenties) than the young men (mid to late twenties), however, the importance of completing an education for both young men and women has meant that both marry later than previous generations.…”

Patrones de corresidencia con familiares en el Brasil, 1960-2010

“…En ambos años, reside con sus madres un mayor porcentaje de hombres, lo que sugiere que estos dejan la casa de sus padres a edades más avanzadas que las mujeres. Estos resultados están en consonancia con los estudios sobre la transición a la vida adulta en los que se afirma que las mujeres dejan el hogar familiar a edades más tempranas como consecuencia del matrimonio (Cohen y otros, 2003;Costa-Ribeiro, 2014;Allendorf y Ghimire, 2017). Otra explicación posible es que los hombres tienen más probabilidades que las mujeres de volver a la casa de sus padres después de haberla abandonado, hipótesis que no podemos comprobar con los datos disponibles.…”

“…Entre los hombres, la corresidencia con un cónyuge parece empezar en una etapa de la vida más tardía, y la proporción se mantiene elevada -y prácticamente constante-hasta alrededor de los 60 años, cuando comienza a disminuir muy lentamente. La diferencia en los perfiles de edad por sexo puede estar relacionada con las diferencias en los patrones matrimoniales, ya que los hombres tienden a casarse a edades más tardías que las mujeres (Allendorf y Ghimire, 2017). En las edades más avanzadas, la brecha en las tasas de mortalidad según el sexo hace que las mujeres sobrevivan a sus maridos (Goldman y Lord, 1983;Carr y Bodnar-Deren, 2009).…”