Hypogamy Relationship On Rise: Why Women Are Choosing Love Over Larger Paychecks

Hypogamy Relationship: Traditionally, when women or parents of a girl are looking for a potential groom for marriage, they consider certain factors like high educational degrees, how much they earn per annum and whether their profession seems to be promising. Back in those days, women preferred men who were more settled in their careers. Gone are those days, when men were assumed to be the role breadwinners of the family and their education and net worth were of prime importance. However, in today’s world, women are getting better opportunities to educate themselves and more of them are prioritising their careers, which has given rise to the concept of hypogamy relationships. Hypogamy has become a relationship trend where more and more women are choosing partners who are less educated and making less money than they do.

In the United States, sociologist Christine Schwartz from the University of Wisconsin states that the percentage of couples where the woman is more educated than her partner has gone up from 39 per cent in 1980 to 62 per cent in 2020. In France, a study was conducted by the National Institute of Demographic Studies, which indicates that since the cohorts born in the late 1950s, women are more often more qualified than their spouses, thus marking a reversal in female hypergamy. In Belgium, 56.9 per cent of women aged 25 to 34 had higher education degrees, compared to 44.4 per cent of men in 2024.

What Is Hypogamy?

Hypogamy is the practice of marrying a partner of lower social status. This can be based on factors like wealth, education or social class. Hypogamy, which is also known as ‘marrying down,’ is less common than hypergamy, but is becoming a common trend in relationships.

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Reasons Why Women Are Choosing Hypogamy?

With women surpassing men in education and financial income, many of them are open to marrying men who may not earn as much or have the same educational achievements. Instead, they prefer men who can offer emotional support and have shared values. Women no longer seek men for financial safety, as they are independent and take care of their own financial needs. They are looking for men who are more egalitarian and someone with good emotional intelligence.

Why Women Are Choosing Hypogamy (Image Credits: Canva)

A huge shift in gender roles has been witnessed in recent times. The idea that a man must be the “provider” is being challenged. Nowadays, some men are comfortable stepping into caregiving roles, opening up the possibility of partnerships where women can think of “marrying down” financially.

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Although it may sound a bit weird, in some cases woman marries a man who is less financially competent or less educated so that they can have an upper hand in different aspects of life. They do so to assert control over their partner, who makes less money and enjoys little professional success, stature and power.