Book: The Richer Sex

For women who have complained about modern dating and men being intimidated by the success of women… The Richer Sex is the book to read.

Personally I’d kind of thought the problem was dating engineers (common complaint amongst my female peers – how many of them have stay at home wives and the effect that can have on their attitudes to women at work), but turns out it’s much more widespread than I thought! Well, at least I feel less alone.

Interesting (depressing) insight, this trend started with women of color in the US being more educated, and more successful in the workforce than men. This was seen as being some kind of aberration, when in fact it was the start of a trend.

Other interesting insight, on the diminishing remarks that men make to women to try and bring them down a bit (I knew it!), they can do this whilst actually also being proud of them (did not know that!)

The most unexpected thing I got from this book, is some sympathy for the men in these situations. Trying to navigate a new path, sometimes ostracised from school communities. Caught in a situation where they are supportive of their wives doing what they want, whether it is staying home or “leaning in”, whereas women have sometimes found it harder to let go the idea that men should be doing some kind of external work, even if they don’t make as much money.

The book is optimistic, which I was surprised about – my own experiences and those of my friends have not always supported a positive outlook on this. But, it did make me look at it differently, and assess my own feelings about how I would feel about a partner who did not work.