Zoe Lawton and Paul Callister

Couples where the woman is significantly older than her male partner currently have a high prominence in national and international media and in popular culture. The women in such arrangements have attracted a colloquial label, ‘cougar’.  This arrangement represents a break from the past when generally the male was the older partner. Our initial analysis of census data suggests that the extent of the older woman–younger male couple is exaggerated by the media. Nevertheless, the data indicate it is an important group and its size does seem to have been growing since the 1980s, at least for those living together in the same households. Like other researchers we also suspect that the number of couples where the woman is older who form long-term relationships is considerably smaller than the number of such couples who have had short-term relationships. Our brief canvassing of theories of partner choice suggests there are social and economic reasons for further growth of this type of partnering arrangement. If there is further significant growth, it is likely the somewhat negative predatory term ‘cougar’ will disappear or at least change its current connotations.
Key words: Women, relationships, cougars, homogamy, heterogamy.