Qian and Oian:The gender divide in urban China:Singlehood and assortative mating by age and education not or no longer have a relationship established while in college.The longer the departure from school,the less likely it is that they would meet people with same levels of educational attainment (Mare 1991).Indeed,research on assortative mating in the United States shows that those married in age 30s tend to have lower educational homogamy than those married in age 20s (Qian 1998).More notably,men in age 30s are more likely than their female counterparts to marry someone who is less educated and younger.The "gendered double standard of aging"contributes to the deteriorating position of older women in marriage markets because a premium on youthful beauty devalues women more than men as they age(England and Farkas 1986;England and McClintock 2009).In sum,in societies with highly segregated gender roles, convergence in men's and women's educational attainment contributes to shrinking availabilities of potential partners and lower marriage prospects among older,highly educated women(Raymo and Iwasawa 2005) 2.2 Urban context in China and family norms Under the conceptual framework employed in the current study,individual choice is constrained by structural factors.Indeed,China's contextual factors play an important role in shaping individual marriage behavior.The first factor is the gender system (England and Farkas 1986;Oppenheimer 1988).Empirically,the effect of education on marriage depends on gender role differentiation:in societies with greater gender- asymmetric division of labor within households,such as Italy and East and Southeast Asia,women's educational level is found to be negatively associated with entry into marriage(Jones and Gubhaju 2009;Pinnelli and De Rose 1995;Raymo 2003),while in societies with more gender-egalitarian division of labor within households,such as the United States,Sweden,and West Germany,women's education is insignificantly or positively related to marriage (Blossfeld and Rohwer 1995;Goldstein and Kenney 2001;Hoem 1995:Sweeney 2002). China provides a unique context of gender relations.Like most former socialist states,the Chinese government was active in promoting gender equality as a policy goal,with women's participation in paid employment considered as key to women's liberation and China's economic development (Zhou 2003).Although equality with men was never attained even during the collectivist period,female employment rate was among the highest in the world (Attane 2012;Parish and Busse 2000).However, the rapid transition from a planned to a market economy has eroded the power of the state in sustaining gender equality (Bian 2002;Tang and Parish 2000).During the economic reform,women's position in the labor market,relative to men's,has deteriorated significantly in urban China (Attane 2012).As a result of growing labor 1340 http://www.demographic-research.orgQian and Qian: The gender divide in urban China: Singlehood and assortative mating by age and education 1340 http://www.demographic-research.org not or no longer have a relationship established while in college. The longer the departure from school, the less likely it is that they would meet people with same levels of educational attainment (Mare 1991). Indeed, research on assortative mating in the United States shows that those married in age 30s tend to have lower educational homogamy than those married in age 20s (Qian 1998). More notably, men in age 30s are more likely than their female counterparts to marry someone who is less educated and younger. The “gendered double standard of aging” contributes to the deteriorating position of older women in marriage markets because a premium on youthful beauty devalues women more than men as they age (England and Farkas 1986; England and McClintock 2009). In sum, in societies with highly segregated gender roles, convergence in men‟s and women‟s educational attainment contributes to shrinking availabilities of potential partners and lower marriage prospects among older, highly educated women (Raymo and Iwasawa 2005). 2.2 Urban context in China and family norms Under the conceptual framework employed in the current study, individual choice is constrained by structural factors. Indeed, China‟s contextual factors play an important role in shaping individual marriage behavior. The first factor is the gender system (England and Farkas 1986; Oppenheimer 1988). Empirically, the effect of education on marriage depends on gender role differentiation: in societies with greater gender￾asymmetric division of labor within households, such as Italy and East and Southeast Asia, women‟s educational level is found to be negatively associated with entry into marriage (Jones and Gubhaju 2009; Pinnelli and De Rose 1995; Raymo 2003), while in societies with more gender-egalitarian division of labor within households, such as the United States, Sweden, and West Germany, women‟s education is insignificantly or positively related to marriage (Blossfeld and Rohwer 1995; Goldstein and Kenney 2001; Hoem 1995; Sweeney 2002). China provides a unique context of gender relations. Like most former socialist states, the Chinese government was active in promoting gender equality as a policy goal, with women‟s participation in paid employment considered as key to women‟s liberation and China‟s economic development (Zhou 2003). Although equality with men was never attained even during the collectivist period, female employment rate was among the highest in the world (Attané 2012; Parish and Busse 2000). However, the rapid transition from a planned to a market economy has eroded the power of the state in sustaining gender equality (Bian 2002; Tang and Parish 2000). During the economic reform, women‟s position in the labor market, relative to men‟s, has deteriorated significantly in urban China (Attané 2012). As a result of growing labor