Cohabitation and marriage: a comparison from a gender perspective

Francesca Fiori, Università di Roma "La Sapienza"

The study is part of the project “Family and health between gender system and institutions” partially financed by the Ministry of University and Scientific Research. On data from the ECHP, we compare the two typologies of union – cohabitations vs. marriages – according to various characteristics describing the gender contract within the couple. We hypothesise that cohabitations are characterised by less asymmetrical gender roles. The originality of this work consists in the simultaneous consideration of all the dimensions of gender inequality. The comparison is carried out for the wave 2001, by means of multivariate analysis techniques. Various models will be presented: Model Europe, to provide a general overview, then the models Northern Europe, Southern Europe and Western Europe, to highlight geographical differences.To conclude, we will show first results from the exploitation of the longitudinal dimension of the panel for the study of changes in gender system in the transition cohabitation→marriage.