In 1986, Newsweek Magazine reported that college-aged women who are still single at the age of 35 have only a 5 percent chance of ever getting married. The stats confirmed what had been suspected: that many women who seemed to have it all--good looks, good jobs, advanced degrees and high salaries were going to miss out on having a good mate. So mother's dire prediction was right: if you wait too long all the good men will be gone.
What was missing from the equation was some very critical information--that there was no man shortage, simply a shortage of men their age or older. But at that time, the study struck fear in the hearts of so many women because the practice of dating younger men was still taboo, not even talked about. Now, in 2008, it's laughable that a woman would decline a date with a man because he's younger. Today, his age wouldn't even enter her mind unless the age gap was really huge.
Today's woman has proven she's willing to battle for new options. Here is a list of her options--all of them forcing society to change. These changes have been won by women as a result of the women's movement that began in the late 1960's:
--the opportunity to be an independent, self reliant woman who can support herself, no longer seeking personal identity and expression through a man.
--the opportunity to enter professions and occupations once open to "men only," such as medicine, law, business, engineering, and politics.
--the opportunity to have a lover, to live openly with a man and not have to sneak around to do it.
--the opportunity to marry and have a family, raising children that turn out beautifully despite the presence of both parents working.
One glass ceiling that still needs to be broken is meeting real gender bias, having a woman elected to be President of the United States. I just have to believe that ceiling is about to be broken. Hopefully, we will soon be able to applaud the swearing in of President Hillary Clinton.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
.jpg)
1 comment:
I dated younger men for six years before I ever heard the word "Cougar". About two years into it, my friend called me and said, "did you see the newspaper Sunday?, it is all about you. You are called a "Cougar"." Talk about helping your self esteem and confidence. Ladies, this is the way to get it all back. I stumbled into this glorious life by accident as I never set out to do this but was fortunate enough to meet some wonderful, smart, patient and might add very handsome younger men that helped me to adjust. I do not do this anymore as my health has declined some and I am 63 now but boy, did I have fun and I didn't start until I was 55 years old. I have some great stories and some great memories and I recommend this fun life to anyone. Several of the young men still ask me to go out with them.
Post a Comment