Volume 55 - Article 28 | Pages 925–968  

Digital matches and marital roles: Online partner selection and nontraditional housework in Japan

By Gina Potarca, Hiroshi Ishida

Abstract

Background: In Japan, traditional male-breadwinner norms persist despite rising pressures for gender-egalitarian unions and women’s increased economic participation. Meanwhile, the spread of online matchmaking offers an alternative to declining conventional forms of partner selection and is potentially associated with departures from traditional gender roles in intimate life.

Objective: This study investigates whether meeting a spouse through online dating is linked to less traditional divisions of household labor in Japan, and whether this association varies by women’s educational attainment.

Methods: The analysis draws on data from 2,051 married women participating in the Japanese Life Course Panel Surveys (2007–2022). To account for selection into online dating, entropy balancing is applied. The study models the likelihood of less traditional divisions across specific household chores, including preparing meals, laundry, cleaning, and grocery shopping.

Results: Findings show that women who met their spouse online – particularly those with a junior college education – are more likely to report nontraditional sharing of household chores like grocery shopping, with smaller associations for laundry and cleaning. While selection factors explain part of the observed patterns, the relationship between online matching and nontraditional sharing of grocery shopping remains robust.

Conclusions: These findings suggest that digital partner search is associated with differences in the division of household labor, but these patterns are not uniform across groups or tasks. Digital platforms appear to function as a selective partner-pool-expanding space in which certain groups are more likely to realize less traditional arrangements, particularly for more flexible, less strongly gendered tasks.

Contribution: This study contributes to research on family change and digitalization in Japan by linking online partner formation with gender role renegotiation in marriage.

Author’s Affiliation

• Gina Potarca - University of Liverpool, United Kingdom EMAIL
• Hiroshi Ishida - University of Tokyo, Japan EMAIL

Other articles by the same author/authors in Demographic Research

Co-ethnic marriage versus intermarriage among immigrants and their descendants: A comparison across seven European countries using event-history analysis
Volume 39 - Article 17

Mixed marriages in Switzerland: A test of the segmented assimilation hypothesis
Volume 38 - Article 48

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