British men have more traditional views about gender roles in relationships compared to Europe, study finds

The language of love can sometimes become lost in translation

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The language of love can have the power to transgress the barriers of different dialects.

However, when it comes to sharing an understanding of gender roles in a relationship, some views can become lost in translation among binational European couples.

A recent study investigated the expectations that heterosexual couples have about gender, with one of the pair originally coming from the UK and the other from a separate European country.

The research discovered that British men often have a more traditional perception of relationships, while women from Europe prefer to uphold egalitarian beliefs.

The study was conducted by Dr Benedicte Brahic, a lecturer in sociology at Manchester Metropolitan University.

Dr Brahic interviewed 32 heterosexual couples hailing from different parts of Europe, 17 of which were married and 12 of which were raising children together.

While the sample used in the study was relatively small, the findings provided an illuminating insight into the disparate mindsets of individuals from distinct sectors of Europe who are romantically involved.

The research is particularly fascinating in light of the uncertainty that Brexit has imbued in European Union citizens currently living in the UK.

“While mononational couples typically rely on a shared cultural bedrock to build their relationship, binational couples face the task of assembling their own hybrid bedrock to cradle their life together,” Dr Brahic explained.

“The Brexit vote heightens the necessity for researchers and policy makers to gain a better understanding of the needs, opportunities and challenges these ‘invisible’ migrants may encounter.”

Dr Brahic decided to assess binational European couples as she felt that there was a significant lack of research that had been conducted previously on the topic.

“European transnationalism - constituted, amongst other things, by transnational families and binational couples, is a social reality for a growing number of individuals, yet little is known about the lives, experiences, opportunities and challenges of these pioneers of Europeanisation from below.”

The female participants who originally came from southern and eastern Europe admitted that they appreciated the opportunities that living in the UK had afforded them.

“I think men in England are a lot more independent than they are in Italy,” said Chiara, an Italian woman with a British male partner.

“If they want to, they can cook, they can put a load of washing on, they can do the washing up. In my previous relations in Italy, this was not the case at all.”

The British women interviewed who had European partners similarly preferred to break down the notions of gender stereotypes, with one revealing that her French male partner wanted her to act “a little bit more passive and a little bit more feminine.”

On the other hand, British men confessed that relationships in the UK can sometimes be perceived as fairly conservative in regard to gender roles.

“Generalising in many ways, we are very traditional in Britain in terms of relationships and expecting the man to do certain things and the women to do things,” said James, a British man with a German female partner called Sabine.

“Sabine was not like that.”

Jacques, a Belgian man with a British female partner, found the apparent separation of men and women in social scenarios in the UK strange, describing the atmosphere as “more macho”.

In 2016, a spokesperson for Leave.EU denounced claims that EU citizens in relationship with Britons in the UK would face having to leave the country, stating: “Absolutely nothing will happen to couples after Brexit."