Beijing, Jan 8 (IANS) In spite of the changing attitudes towards marriage in Chinese society, a whopping 99 percent of male participants in a study said they hope their future spouses would earn more money — but not more than they do.
An annual report on social mentality in China in 2012-13 published by the Social Sciences Academic Press spoke about the criteria people use to choose a spouse, the China Daily reported.
However, less than one percent of male participants said they hope their future spouses will earn more than they do.
The ratio of men expecting to find a wife who makes as much as they do, however, increased from 18.3 percent in 2005 to 25.7 percent in 2010.
Women’s income expectations from their spouses did not show any notable trends.
Forty-four percent of female respondents said they believe their husbands should earn more money than they do.
The age gap between spouses has also changed with their changing roles.
In 2005, the average age difference accepted by women was 4.14 to 12.58 years, while in 2010 it was 1.1 to 8.47 years.
Men accepted women 5.24 years younger to 0.99 years older than them in 2010.
The report was conducted by the institute and online dating website Baihe.com.
More than 35,000 randomly selected users participated in the survey, and the final analysis was based on 31,435 respondents between the ages of 18 and 40.
