Navigating marital infidelity under patriarchal structures: a qualitative study of 27 women in China

Marital infidelity is rising in China. Drawing on in-depth interviews with 27 women who experienced infidelity by their husbands, this study examines how marital betrayal is experienced and negotiated within China’s enduring patriarchal gender regime. The findings reveal a three-tiered mechanism through which male infidelity is normalized, including husbands’ gendered self-justifications, social networks’ reconciliation pressures, and some women’s own internalization of patriarchal reasoning. These ideological dynamics are compounded by interlocking structural barriers, including institutional gaps and motherhood penalties, placing women at a structural disadvantage when confronting betrayal. Within these constraints, women navigated marital uncertainty by seeking material protection, reworking everyday priorities, and finding recognition and support in an online intimate public. In doing so, marriage became increasingly subject to pragmatic evaluation alongside emotional commitment. The findings suggest that patriarchal expectations, increasingly intertwined with the marketization of intimate life, may ultimately erode the institution of marriage on which patriarchy itself has long depended. These dynamics offer new insight into the persistence of gender inequality and the uneven possibilities for negotiating it in contemporary China.