According to a recent study, three out of four women said they would not marry a man who is unemployed. 65% said they would feel uncomfortable marrying someone if they themselves were unemployed.
Yet somehow 91% of single women also said they would “marry for love over money”:
“It is ironic that women place more weight on love than money, yet won’t marry if they or their potential suitor is unemployed,” said Meghan Casserly, of ForbesWoman which conducted the survey with the website YourTango.com.
Even more telling, she said, is that 77 percent of women surveyed believe they can have it all — a fulfilling relationship and family life, as well as a successful career.
But 63 percent of women said they work 40-59 hours, and 62 percent of women in a relationship said they spend just three waking hours or less with their partner during the work week.
“The career is really taking the No. 1 position for working women,” Casserly said. “It’s pretty ironic that this number of women believe they can have everything. How? When?”
And just like that we return to the “can you really have it all” debate. Anyone want to organize a group outing to see I Don’t Know How She Does It on opening night?
According to this study, women want to work as often as possible, and in turn put themselves in a place where they may hardly see their significant others. And yet it’s all “love over money,” despite the desire to marry someone with a job (and therefore has some cash flow). Casserly’s right: This is ironic. There’s so much irony here, we can’t see straight. Did we mention the word irony yet? We did? Well it is!
The rest of the study goes on to say things along the lines of “Women are stressing about their love lives and their financial security” and “They want it all! They simply want it ALL!” Yes, we’ve heard this before, ad nauseum. But to be fair, haven’t so many of us been raised with the general sentiment — if not the specifics — to believe that we can pull it off and “have it all,” masterfully balancing family and career ambitions?
Women will wed for love, if partner has job: poll [Reuters]