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Wellington (dpa) - New Zealand women are "marrying down" - choosing partners who are poorer and not as well educated as themselves - because of a shortage of men in the 20-49 age group, a newspaper reported Wednesday.
Demographer Paul Callister told The Press, of Christchurch, there had been a 10 per cent increase in the number of highly educated women marrying men with fewer qualifications and lower paid jobs in the last 20 years.
With a shortage of 33,000 to 53,000 men in the marrying age group, there was a lack of eligible partners of equal educational or economic status, he said.
Callister said the trend was likely to continue because more women were going to university and earning more than their spouses would continue working longer while partners stayed home and looked after any children.
He said negotiating work-life arrangements and childcare options were likely to become more pressing issues for men in the future.
Copyright 2006 dpa Deutsche Presse-Agentur GmbH
