by Only a few things met when it came to finding out that their partner was unfaithful. It can often be asked: Who is cheating more, men or women? The answer may not be what you think.
According to 2025 research by Slater and Gordon Lawyers UK, a whopping 38% of the outgoing couples cite a matter as a reason why their marriage ended. However, official statistics seem to say less that it is less.
In 2021 in the last year, before England and Wales introduced the divorce of the no-fault, the Office for National Statistics stated that adultery made 8.7% of female petents and 7.5% of male petents in divorce opposite gender. This seems to indicate that men cheat more than women and surveys have found similarly.
The 2023 sex survey by British GQ showed that 60% of the male respondents admitted to having an affair compared to only 32% of women. In a YouGov survey from 2015, it turned out that the gap was much closer, with 20% of men and 19% of women giving them ever cheated.
However, experts believe that it is not as significant difference as these numbers. And in their experience they think that fraud between the sexes is fairly the same.
Do men or women cheat more?
The psychotherapist Charlotte Fox Weber indicates that she sees men and women in her work in her work.
“Depending on the age and source, the statistics shake, but in therapy I see both men and women – only often for various reasons,” she says to Yahoo UK.
“Men could look for novelty or validation, while women often quote emotional neglect or invisibility. It’s not so much about who cheats more, but why – and what is previously under the carpet.”
The therapist Matt Wotton agrees and finds that both men and women confess to be unfaithful in his meetings.
“In my experience, it doesn’t feel that women do more than men or men more than women,” he says. “It feels like I speak to people, there are really difficult challenges in this relationship that nobody talks about or does not quite speak about.”
Couples psychotherapist Debbie Keenan agrees. She believes that in the past men by guiding the charges regarding infidelity due to the opportunity, but says that the field has triggered, and now she believes that both sexes cheat as much as one.
“There is more temptation; the technology stands by your fingertips and it is now easier to cheat than ever before,” she explains, explaining that women have more opportunity to cheat than in the past, since they were historically more at home.
Differences between the sexes
While reliable data for infidelity can be difficult to firm, Wotton believes that some of the reasons why surveys are more entitled to men is more likely to exaggerate.
“If you ask men how often they had sex or how many previous partners they had, this train is, certainly among younger men, to overdo it,” he says.
“And there is still a bit of stereotype when women are a little more attributable to these things. I think boys would see this as almost braggling rights, and some women would hesitate much less to disclose this themselves.”
Fox Weber also thinks how men and women are different. She says that women may be more thoughtful and caring and is therefore more difficult to have “meaningless” affairs, but they believe that men can be more distant.
“I worked with women who had several matters who have to take care of their lovers in a way, who are almost like another home entry,” she explains.
“I think men can be more distant. I worked with a woman who took over the nursing role for her lover. She wanted to move out of responsibility, and then it became a further responsibility.”
She also says that people are surprised to know that even the nicest men can be unfaithful.
“From the experience of working with hundreds of customers – including men who are married, committed fathers and generally being viewed as” good boys ” – I am always surprised at how many of them had meaningless matters. It is almost always the case,” she says.
“I only had a female client who described her affair as meaningless, and even then she only saw it like that. From what I saw, women tend to form an emotional bond more naturally.”
Keenan also believes that women can take better in the infidelity.
“Women are more in harmony when someone is cheating – if the partner is unfaithful, they rather grasp it,” she says. “While men, I don’t think, also cover their tracks. I think women would not be more demonstrable if they decided to do so.”
Women look from their marriage to needs that are not met in their relationship. (Getty Images)
Men and women can cheat for various reasons
While Keenan and Fox Weber both think historically that “men are more likely to cheat”, they say that more women often look outside of their marriage for needs that are not met in their relationship.
While everyone is different and their reasons for cheating vary, Keenan and Fox Weber say that some frequent reasons for fraud between the sexes can vary.
According to the experts, women can cheat because:
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Your emotional needs are not fulfilled – you may feel ignored, trapped or not valued
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You are looking for a trust or self -esteem or a feeling of being desired or selected
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You feel bored or resentment in your relationship
They also say that men may cheat because:
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They can be driven by sexual satisfaction more
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You can cheat on physical desires than on the basis of emotional dissatisfaction
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Historically, they may have had more opportunity – like working trips
Wotton adds: “The stereotype is men who cheat after sex, and women could cheat after connection. I think there is a bit of truth.
“I think boys can sometimes divorce who are divorced by some kind of intimate or networked feeling. And I think sometimes it is women who long for this kind of connection.”
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