Proportional Contributions to a Shared Budget by Partner and Respondent Gender: Evidence from a Polish National Survey

This working paper presents an exploratory analysis of judgments about the fairness of sharing expenses according to the gender of the higher earner and the respondent. It uses data from a computer-assisted web survey (CAWI) conducted by SW Research for the Dwaplus Foundation among 2,001 heterosexual individuals aged 18–35 in Poland (982 women and 1,019 men). Each respondent evaluated one of two vignette versions. In both versions, the partners earned PLN 18,000 and PLN 6,000, respectively, and shared expenses amounted to PLN 8,000. The higher earner proposed equal contributions, whereas the lower earner proposed contributions proportional to income. The gender of the individuals occupying these roles was reversed between versions. Among women, support for proportional contributions was 50.7% when the woman earned more and 66.4% when the man earned more. Means on the aligned five-point scale were 3.39 and 3.78, respectively; the difference calculated from unrounded values was −0.38 points. Among men, the mean difference was close to zero (0.01 points). The interaction between vignette version and respondent gender persisted after adjustment for age, settlement size, education, relationship status, and parenthood (b = −0.41; 95% CI [−0.61, −0.21]; q < .001). Supplementary logistic models indicated that the pattern was not solely attributable to “I have no opinion” responses. The paper includes the full vignette wording, coding procedures, response distributions, result tables, figures, and methodological appendices. The analysis is unweighted and compares separate groups; it does not establish individual inconsistency or respondents’ motivations. This working paper has not undergone scientific peer review.