Matching on Gender Role Attitudes: Implications for Household Inequality

We study how gender role attitudes (GRA)---beliefs about appropriate roles for men and women---affect marital sorting and intrahousehold allocations. Using data from the UK Household Longitudinal Study and a multidimensional matching model, we estimate the contribution of GRA to joint marriage utility alongside several other traits. Sorting on GRA is quantitatively important, with a contribution to marital utility comparable to that of education. A decomposition of joint utility reveals three main dimensions, one of which loads heavily on GRA. This dimension strongly predicts intrahousehold allocations, including spouses’ shares of housework, childcare, earnings, and paid labor. Overall, GRA emerge as a key determinant of assortative matching and a significant factor shaping intrahousehold behavior and gendered labor market outcomes.