Journal of Marriage and Family ncfr YUE QIAN University of British Columbia Gender Asymmetry in Educational and Income Assortative Marriage The reversal of the gender gap in education in educational attainment has coincided with has reshaped the U.S.marriage market.Draw- substantial changes in marriage patterns.In ing on data from the 1980 U.S.Census and the 2012,21%of married women had spouses who 2008-2012 American Community Surveys,the were less educated than they were-a twofold author used log-linear models to examine gen- increase from 1980 (Wang,2014).During der asymmetry in educational and income assor- the period when the gender gap in education tative mating among newlyweds.Between 1980 narrowed and eventually reversed,has the nor- and 2008-2012,educational assortative mating mative practice of women marrying men of reversed from a tendency for women to marry higher socioeconomic status (i.e.,hypergamy) up to a tendency for women to marry down in been eroded?When they marry less-educated education,whereas the tendency for women to men,do women also marry men with lower marry men with higher incomes than themselves incomes,thereby challenging the traditional persisted.Moreover,in both time periods,the breadwinning role of men in the family?In tendency for women to marry up in income was answering these questions,this article offers generally greater among couples in which the a critical empirical investigation of gender wife's education level equaled or surpassed that asymmetry in assortative mating and presents a of the husband than among couples in which detailed picture of the state of gender equality the wife was less educated than the husband. in heterosexual marriages. The author discusses the implications of the ris- Women married to men with less edu- ing female advantage in education for gender cation than themselves are often thought to change in heterosexual marriages. challenge the traditional,male-dominant sta- tus in marriage (Kaukinen,2004;Schwartz Han,2014).The previously nonnormative Women have made greater gains in educational arrangement-educational hypogamy (i.e.,mar- attainment than men during the past few decades riages in which the wife has more education in the United States.Currently,women earn than the husband)-has become more common about 60%of bachelor's and master's degrees (Schwartz Mare,2005).Does increasing edu- and half of all doctoral degrees (DiPrete cational hypogamy indicate a shift away from Buchmann,2013).The rising female advantage the convention of mate selection that embodies male dominance?In this article,I argue that an exclusive focus on educational assortative Department of Sociology,University of British Columbia, mating provides an incomplete understand- 6303 NW Marine Drive,Vancouver,BC Canada V6T 1ZI ing of mate selection patterns and overstates (yue.qian@ubc.ca). gender change in heterosexual marriages.This This article was edited by Kelly Raley. study advances prior work toward a more Key Words:demography.education,gender.marriage,mate comprehensive understanding of the gendered selection.U.S.population. and multidimensional nature of mate selection Journal of Marriage and Family(2016) 1 D0L:10.1111/jomf.12372Yue Qian University of British Columbia Gender Asymmetry in Educational and Income Assortative Marriage The reversal of the gender gap in education has reshaped the U.S. marriage market. Draw￾ing on data from the 1980 U.S. Census and the 2008–2012 American Community Surveys, the author used log-linear models to examine gen￾der asymmetry in educational and income assor￾tative mating among newlyweds. Between 1980 and 2008–2012, educational assortative mating reversed from a tendency for women to marry up to a tendency for women to marry down in education, whereas the tendency for women to marry men with higher incomes than themselves persisted. Moreover, in both time periods, the tendency for women to marry up in income was generally greater among couples in which the wife’s education level equaled or surpassed that of the husband than among couples in which the wife was less educated than the husband. The author discusses the implications of the ris￾ing female advantage in education for gender change in heterosexual marriages. Women have made greater gains in educational attainment than men during the past few decades in the United States. Currently, women earn about 60% of bachelor’s and master’s degrees and half of all doctoral degrees (DiPrete & Buchmann, 2013). The rising female advantage Department of Sociology, University of British Columbia, 6303 NW Marine Drive, Vancouver, BC Canada V6T 1Z1 (yue.qian@ubc.ca). This article was edited by Kelly Raley. Key Words: demography, education, gender, marriage, mate selection, U.S. population. in educational attainment has coincided with substantial changes in marriage patterns. In 2012, 21% of married women had spouses who were less educated than they were—a twofold increase from 1980 (Wang, 2014). During the period when the gender gap in education narrowed and eventually reversed, has the nor￾mative practice of women marrying men of higher socioeconomic status (i.e., hypergamy) been eroded? When they marry less-educated men, do women also marry men with lower incomes, thereby challenging the traditional breadwinning role of men in the family? In answering these questions, this article offers a critical empirical investigation of gender asymmetry in assortative mating and presents a detailed picture of the state of gender equality in heterosexual marriages. Women married to men with less edu￾cation than themselves are often thought to challenge the traditional, male-dominant sta￾tus in marriage (Kaukinen, 2004; Schwartz & Han, 2014). The previously nonnormative arrangement—educational hypogamy (i.e., mar￾riages in which the wife has more education than the husband)—has become more common (Schwartz & Mare, 2005). Does increasing edu￾cational hypogamy indicate a shift away from the convention of mate selection that embodies male dominance? In this article, I argue that an exclusive focus on educational assortative mating provides an incomplete understand￾ing of mate selection patterns and overstates gender change in heterosexual marriages. This study advances prior work toward a more comprehensive understanding of the gendered and multidimensional nature of mate selection Journal of Marriage and Family (2016) 1 DOI:10.1111/jomf.12372