Women cheat as much as men
Research shows that rates of female infidelity are increasing, while men are cheating less.
Gender
Infidelity
Love
Marriage
Monogamy
Relationships
Sex
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Context
As cheating is not gender-specific, this cannot be a gender issue.
The Argument
Women and men cheat. Treating infidelity as a gender issue is misleading. In recent years, the infidelity gender gap has been closing.
Studies show that how likely a man or woman is to cheat, is dependent on innumerable extraneous factors. Not their gender.
The one gendered trend sociologists have noticed, is between ageing and cheating. But even this concludes that men and women cheat equally.
For example, a 2017 study by the US Institute for Family Studies found that younger married women are more likely to cheat compared to married men in the same age group.
Conversely, as people get older, with a purported 24% men in their 80s cheating on their wives.
Either way, looking at this complex issue as a function of gender leads to false inferences. As women are also complicit, and actively cheat on their partners, the problem must hinge on other, more intangible factors.
Counter arguments
It is impossible not to look at infidelity within heterosexual couples, without a nod to gender disparities and dynamics. Digging deeper into studies that claim to prove gender is irrelevant reveal evidence to the contrary.
For example, asking why younger married women and older married men are more likely to cheat, links back to wider patriarchal structures.
If men naturally find younger women more attractive, and we are conditioned to "not see" older women, these conclusions indicate sexism at play.