Another possibility is that women are more likely to choose to self report their status as "in a relationship" vs. men. (Which would be an interesting finding on its own!) I'm not sure which source they pulled those figures in the first line from, but elsewhere it talks about PEW studies and the Survey Center on American Life which are presumably working from self reported survey data? "Married" is easier to track objectively than "single" vs. "in a relationship" which is more subjective. Is having been on three dates a "relationship?" Is it a relationship if you never talked about it with each other in those terms? If you're dating multiple people non-exclusively are you "in a relationship" or "single"? (I'm not asking; just speculating that two people might answer those questions differently.)
The 60% / 30% figure doesn't pass the sniff test to me.
Edit: Noticed the comment about this data focusing on "young" women and men and the possibility that more women are dating men outside that range than men are doing the same. That's also a good explanation. This was mentioned in the article too; I was just initially underestimating its significance.
That’s a good point that the article doesn’t touch on! (and along with the other ones from the article, makes a lot more sense than the “10% of the men date all the women” meme I see repeated in this HN discussion).
The 60% / 30% figure doesn't pass the sniff test to me.
Edit: Noticed the comment about this data focusing on "young" women and men and the possibility that more women are dating men outside that range than men are doing the same. That's also a good explanation. This was mentioned in the article too; I was just initially underestimating its significance.