Most men want to date someone who is more intellectual than they are, according to a new study into dating and relationships commissioned by Match.com, the UK’s leading online dating company.
International polling company, Research Now, polled 5,600 individuals and found that 87% of men want a partner who has better education, is cleverer and earns more money than him.
More than 50% of the women surveyed said they are not willing to financially support a partner. Over 60% of the women said they would not date someone less intellectual than them and 86% declared they wanted a partner of similar intelligence abilities.
Despite women not wanting less intellectual partners a new study published concludes that women who marry less educated men do not have a higher risk of divorce comparable to other groups. The evidence actually shows that by the end of the 1990s women had overtaken men as the most educated partner and men no longer felt threatened by a more intellectual partner.
The survey shows a trend where contemporary relationships are less influenced by traditional roles and gender-based expectations than before. Other recent surveys have found there are at least 1.4 million British men who are the main carer of their children and women do better than men in IQ tests and receive 58% of undergraduate degrees.
A majority of the men polled said they wanted a self-assured and confident partner with 58% stating they would date a considerably taller woman. Only 43% wanted a partner with the same level of intellectual ability as them.
This survey is one of many which demonstrate a marked shift away from earner/homemaker model to a more egalitarian model of relationships where a woman’s economic status is no longer threatening to man sense of masculinity. These results suggest that improving gender equality in our society also changes the way we think about the opposite sex.