Maureen Dowd has an excellent if not completely depressing essay in this morning's NYT. Some of the most depressing stats:?
Women moving up still strive to marry up. Men moving up still tend to marry down. The two sexes' going in opposite directions has led to an epidemic of professional women missing out on husbands and kids.
...among corporate executives who earn $100,000 or more, she said, 49 percent of the women did not have children, compared with only 19 percent of the men.
..."Nowadays," she said, "the rule of thumb seems to be that the more successful the woman, the less likely it is she will find a husband or bear a child. For men, the reverse is true."
A 2005 report by researchers at four British universities indicated that a high I.Q. hampers a woman's chance to marry, while it is a plus for men. The prospect for marriage increased by 35 percent for guys for each 16-point increase in I.Q.; for women, there is a 40 percent drop for each 16-point rise.
I seems the problem is that successful women still have it ingrained in their heads that they must marry up... or that men that are “low” tend to not marry “up.” Some things haven’t changed since the days of Jane Austen.
yes, you’re right... exceptions do exist. Good thing too, as I plan to one day find a woman who can afford to keep me in the manner that I hope to become accustomed... or at least can afford to buy me digital cable (seriously, what else does a guy need). ;)
Great minds think alike even if one of those minds is about a week behind in current events. I was going point you towards the Dowd article but will simply note that there are interesting discussions on this article linked through Amardeep Singh's blog. Apparently Dowd was on Fresh Air this week too which you can stream through the archives (but you knew that!).
In any case, I have to say that the article rang mostly true for me. I may not pull down the big bucks as an academic but all evidence points to the idea that I have educated myself right out of the dating scene. Apparently in my attempt to balance out the cheerleader-sorority-and- oh-my-god-Jr.-Miss-pageant thing, I overshot the mark and missed my nano-second window of desirability during that transition. Note here that I am allowing for various outside factors such as my job in the hinterlands where the dating pool is very shallow for singles of both genders.
I agree with Singh that the best thing about Dowd's article is her call to revisit the aftermath of 70s feminism today since I'd wager 95% of my ardently feminist students are apalled at the notion of being referred to as "feminist" let alone claiming that label for themselves.
What was that old country song?...Sometimes It's Hard to Be A (financially independent, educated) Woman. Sigh.
I seems the problem is that successful women still have it ingrained in their heads that they must marry up... or that men that are “low” tend to not marry “up.” Some things haven’t changed since the days of Jane Austen.