Breadwinner and Homemaker: A Vignette Survey Experimental Study of Urban Chinese Women’s Preferences for Marriage Partners

Traditional gender differences in mate preferences suggest that men tend to prioritize traits reflecting women’s reproductive potential and domestic skills, whereas women emphasize men’s socio-economic status. With the rise in women’s socio-economic status and escalating living costs, some research has investigated whether men are placing greater value on women's economic potential, whereas less attention has been given to whether women are placing greater value on men's domestic skills and willingness to share household responsibilities. This study employs a vignette survey experiment to investigate Chinese women’s preferences for considerate and family-oriented men in mate selection and how these preferences vary by women's residence of living and their educational attainment. Results revealed that urban Chinese women have dual expectations for ideal partners: they should be breadwinners and therefore capable of sharing the household's financial burden, but also homemakers who are considerate, family-oriented, and willing to share household chores and childcare responsibilities. Notably, the importance of being considerate and family-oriented was particularly pronounced among women living in more modernized large cities and those with higher levels of education. These findings demonstrate that in contexts where gender equality progresses unevenly across work and family domains, women increasingly prioritize men's domestic abilities and family involvement in mate selection.