Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Thesis Format

Integrated Article

Degree

Master of Arts

Program

Sociology

Collaborative Specialization

Migration and Ethnic Relations

Supervisor

Dr. Rachel Margolis

Abstract

Mixed partnerships are unions between two people that cross socially constructed boundaries between groups, particularly race and ethnicity and they are an aspect of diversity within Canadian society. Using the 2006 and 2016 Canadian long-form censuses, I examine mixed unions, measured as partnerships across different visible minority categories and places of birth. I find that there is more diversity within unions than what is captured just using visible minority status. Being highly educated, living in census metropolitan areas, and in same-sex partnerships are predictors of mixed unions indicative of barriers to mixed partnerships possibly being less salient among these groups. While examining egalitarianism, I find that unions with a white and visible minority partner are less equal across four measures of egalitarianism used (wage, income, household work, childcare) in comparison to white-white unions and mixed couples by place of birth are also less egalitarian than Canadian-born couples.

Summary for Lay Audience

Mixed partnerships are unions between two people that cross socially constructed boundaries between groups, particularly race and ethnicity and they are an aspect of diversity within Canadian society. Using recent censuses, I examine mixed unions measured as partnerships across different visible minority categories and places of birth. I find that there is more diversity within unions than what is captured just using visible minority status. Being highly educated, living in census metropolitan areas, and being in same-sex partnerships are predictors of mixed unions which is indicative of barriers to mixed partnerships possibly being less salient among these groups. I also find that although mixed couples and those who tend to be egalitarian share some characteristics, individuals in mixed unions are not uniformly more egalitarian across the four measures I examined (wage, income, household work, childcare). This study contributes to the research on mixed racial and ethnic partnerships through the use of two measures of mixed unions that capture similarities and differences between different aspects of diversity within families in Canada.

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