Digital matches and marital roles: Online partner selection and nontraditional housework in Japan

BACKGROUNDIn Japan, traditional male-breadwinner norms persist despite rising pressures for genderegalitarian unions and women's increased economic participation.Meanwhile, the spread of online matchmaking offers an alternative to declining conventional forms of partner selection and is potentially associated with departures from traditional gender roles in intimate life. OBJECTIVEThis study investigates whether meeting a spouse through online dating is linked to less traditional divisions of household labor in Japan, and whether this association varies by women's educational attainment. METHODSThe analysis draws on data from 2,051 married women participating in the Japanese Life Course Panel Surveys (2007)(2008)(2009)(2010)(2011)(2012)(2013)(2014)(2015)(2016)(2017)(2018)(2019)(2020)(2021)(2022).To account for selection into online dating, entropy balancing is applied.The study models the likelihood of less traditional divisions across specific household chores, including preparing meals, laundry, cleaning, and grocery shopping. RESULTSFindings show that women who met their spouse online -particularly those with a junior college education -are more likely to report nontraditional sharing of household chores like grocery shopping, with smaller associations for laundry and cleaning.While selection factors explain part of the observed patterns, the relationship between online matching and nontraditional sharing of grocery shopping remains robust.