Risk-aversive individualisation: Financial risks and gender inequity in Chinese women’s marriage formation

Marriage rates have dropped significantly over the past decade in China, a society undergoing social and cultural transformation and increasingly characterised as a complex risk society. While Chinese women increasingly engage in higher education and employment, traditional gender role divisions within the family persist. As such, marriage is increasingly perceived as a risky institution for financially independent women, as it may bring a disproportionate share of familial responsibilities. Employing a mixed-methods approach, this thesis explores how financial risks and the risk of gender inequity arising from marriage influence Chinese women’s marital outcomes and decisions. The quantitative part examines the impact of financial resources and gender role attitudes on marriage outcomes of women, adopting discrete-time event history analysis of the China Family Panel Studies. The qualitative study explores the marital decision-making of 24 educated, middle-income women aged 28–39 in Guangzhou.

The quantitative analysis shows that women with higher risks of compromising socioeconomic prospects (e.g. individual income, education level) are less likely to marry. Women with more egalitarian gender role attitudes, and thus a higher risk of unmet expectations, are less likely to marry. The qualitative study shows that middle-income women’s marital decisions are risk-averse, reflected as expectations for an egalitarian and homogeneous marriage shaped by financial status, gender inequality in the labour market and childcare, within the broader Chinese context of risk and uncertainty. Additionally, an ongoing individualisation process is observed in the marriage decision-making process. This study contributes to the understanding of the latest marriage trends in China by incorporating financial circumstances, gender perspectives and ideational changes in a wider context of economic uncertainties. It contributes to the examination of the theoretical framework of risk-aversive individualisation in explaining marital behaviour by decomposing risks into financial risks and risks of gender inequity in the process of uneven female role revolution.