An Educational Revolution and Its Consequences
In the past, highly educated individuals predominantly formed partnerships with each other. This pattern, known as educational homogamy, was also shaped by the fact that there were fewer highly educated women. However, as the share of tertiary-educated women in Europe has steadily increased, this situation has changed significantly.
Today’s “Educational Gender Gap Reversal” means that women more often achieve tertiary education than men. The traditional model of homogamous partnerships is therefore reaching demographic limits—simply because there are not enough equally educated men on the “marriage market.”
When Education Becomes Less Central
The presentation by Tomáš Doseděl and Tomáš Katrňák shows that in this new context, the logic of partner selection itself is shifting. Relationships that would previously have been considered educationally mismatched (for example, a highly educated woman and a less-educated man) are no longer necessarily less stable. Among younger cohorts, their stability is comparable to homogamous partnerships.
The findings suggest that apparent “non-homogamy” in education may in fact be replaced by homogamy in other dimensions, such as shared social background, lifestyle, or values.
Data from Across Europe
The analysis is based on data from the European Union Labour Force Survey (EU-LFS) covering the years 2010–2023 and includes 20 European countries. The dataset comprises more than 900,000 women aged 25–39 living with a partner.
The results show that approximately 42% of tertiary-educated women are partnered with men who have lower levels of education. However, the likelihood of such arrangements is not evenly distributed across the population.
The Role of Age, Income, and Place of Residence
A higher probability of women choosing a less-educated partner is found especially among younger women and those living outside major urban centers. Rural areas and smaller towns show a significantly higher prevalence of such partnerships.
Conversely, the likelihood declines with age. Income also plays a modest role—women with lower incomes are slightly less likely to enter relationships with less-educated partners.
From the male perspective, the pattern is somewhat reversed: older men, men with lower incomes, and those working in blue-collar occupations are more likely to have a more highly educated partner.
Adapting to a “Shortage” of Suitable Partners
One possible explanation is the so-called “marriage squeeze”—an imbalance on the partner market in which a group seeking partners does not have enough suitable counterparts according to traditional criteria. In such situations, preferences are reassessed.
Highly educated women, particularly those from smaller municipalities, appear to place less emphasis on education when choosing a partner and instead prioritize other characteristics. Shared social background may also play an important role, especially in smaller communities.
Homogamy Is Changing, Not Disappearing
The findings indicate that the principle of homogamy is not disappearing from partner selection but is rather transforming. Instead of education, other forms of similarity between partners may become more important.
Economic homogamy—similarity in income—does not emerge as a dominant factor, as the correlation between partners’ incomes remains relatively low.
The research was carried out as part of the project “On Our Own: Opportunities and Risks in the Individualization of Society (PRINS),” co-financed by the European Union. Both Tomáš Doseděl and Tomáš Katrňák are affiliated with the Department of Sociology at the Faculty of Social Studies, Masaryk University.
