Study finds what women want

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Friday, January 02, 2004

Study finds what women want

In a world that abounds with opportunities, women say an ideal husband should boast career development potential and preferably a decent income, but not necessarily very high academic qualifications.

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In a world that abounds with opportunities, women say an ideal husband should boast career development potential and preferably a decent income, but not necessarily very high academic qualifications.

Psychologists with the elite Peking University have found that a man's schooling does not matter as much to young women as it did in the 1980s, as most women believe that a man with potential makes a better partner, regardless of his education.

Professor Qian Mingyi and colleagues made a comparative study recently on classified ads put up by "lonely heart women" in "Women of China" between 1985 and 2000.

Some 73 per cent of the women who posted ads in 1985 said explicitly they wanted to marry men with higher education, whereas only 29 per cent said the same in 2000.

In 2000, 65 per cent of the women expected potential partners to be successful in their career, compared to 42 per cent in 1985. This change in expectations, according to Qian, shows that high qualifications do not necessarily guarantee good pay and career success.

"It's natural for women to prefer men with greater capacity and higher social status," Qian said. "From the evolutionary point of view, men with better social and economic conditions are more likely to ensure the well-being of their offspring."

Classified ads for lonely hearts have helped several million people find matches since they appeared in Chinese newspapers and magazines in 1981.

Despite a drop in the number of advertisers in recent years, Qian found that more women are willing to post ads in their search for "Mr Right."

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