Page 4 - IDEA Studie 11 2017 Vyberove parovani partneru
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Study 11 / 2017
Birds of a feather: the importance of selecting the right field of study for finding the right partner
JULY 2017
ALENA BIČÁKOVÁ, ŠTĚPÁN JURAJDA, LUCIE ZAPLETALOVÁ
Summary
Selective pairing is a tendency toward choosing a life partner with the same level of attained education, resulting in educational homogamy, a phenomenon which has been the focus of extensive research for sociologists, demographers and economists. The present study, based on a research paper by Bičáková and Jurajda (2016), looks into an as yet unexplored aspect of selective pairing: the degree of field-of-study homogamy, mapping the degree to which couples within the EU countries are formed by people who have chosen the same field of study. Within the EU, people with a college degree have a tendency to select life partners who have graduated in the same field. This tendency applies to both married and unmarried live cohabiting couples. Field-of-study homogamy tends to increase in occurrence immediately after graduation, and reaches a fairly high level, especially for couples working in the same field. The degree of field-of-study homogamy varies greatly both among different countries and branches of study.
The tendency toward choosing a life partner educated in the same field of study is an important phenomenon which, considering the large differences in wages among various branches, as well as the possibility of combining career and parenthood, may have a considerable impact on wage inequality among families, as well as on the willingness to start a family in the respective countries.
The unequal representation of men and women in a particular field of study creates a potential for a high level of field-of-study homogamy. Such a potential is greatly dependent on the equal representation of men and women within a particular branch. In a male- dominated field of study, men have a very low chance of finding a partner within the same field, whereas the women have a large selection of potential partners. Nearly 60 percent of women in male-dominated fields of study therefore choose a partner from the same field.
The Czech Republic shows a relatively high level of field-of-study homogamy. 2
