Rise of the toyboy

More and more women are choosing to settle down with a younger man, according to research.

Around one in four weddings involves a bride who is the senior partner - almost double the level of 40 years ago.

Experts believe the trend towards toyboy husbands is linked to women's changing role in society.

With more social and sexual confidence and greater financial independence, today's single woman can afford to overlook an older provider in favour of youth.

The findings by the Office for National Statistics are mirrored in the celebrity world, where many stars have settled down with men who are their juniors.

Joan Collins has made a habit of being seen on the arm of a younger man. Two years ago, aged 68, she married 36-year-old Percy Gibson. His predecessor, husband number four Peter Holm, was 14 years younger than her.

Madonna, 45, is 11 years older than her film director husband Guy Ritchie, while 31-year- old Gwyneth Paltrow has four years' seniority on her husband, Coldplay frontman Chris Martin.

Others who dared to challenge the convention that women shouldn't go for younger men include Sadie Frost, who is six years older than her 31-year-old former husband Jude Law, and Liza Minelli, who was 56 when she embarked on her ill-fated marriage to David Gest, then 48.

In 1963, only 15 per cent of women married younger men. By 1998, this figure had jumped to 26 per cent.

The trend is even more apparent in remarriages, where 39 per cent of divorcees choose a younger man. This compares to 20 per cent among women getting married for the first time.

While toyboys are thriving, sugar daddies are still alive and well too. The proportion of weddings with brides at least six years younger than their grooms has gone up from 21 per cent in 1963 to 25 per cent.

The rise of the toyboy coincides with the change in women's role in society since the early-1960s.

Professor Ben Fletcher, a psychologist at the University of Hertfordshire, said: 'I think it is to do with their changing status, changing roles and confidence in relationships and the changes in interrelationships between men and women.

'The role they take up is not so formalised. They are much more flexible and able to make their own choices and that is certainly a good thing.

'As a society in general, we are much more egalitarian. There is much more sexual equality as well.'

Professor Fletcher, who specialises in the psychology of relationships, believes many women choose younger beaus to boost their confidence.

'Women are much more concerned about their ageing process, so they do tend to look for confirmation that it's not going on,' he said. 'They are getting their confirmation by finding they are attractive to younger men.

'There is also the fact that it is much easier nowadays to maintain a youngerlooking physical self.

'We know much more about nutrition and we have plastic surgery, good cosmetics and so on.

'All of these things also keep women looking and feeling younger.'

Professor Ruth Hancock, one of the authors of the age-gap report, said evidence from the Third World suggested the tendency of women to marry older men falls off as societies become richer.

She added: 'It has been hypothesised that the older partner is generally the most dominant, so the norm that the husband is generally older than the wife has been viewed as an avenue for younger women to gain security and status.

'Our findings suggest that in England and Wales, people's reasons for marrying may be becoming less concerned with social status and more with the fulfilment of individual goals.'