Why do women have higher expectations in men than men do in women?

Question

pleaseee help i need some facts or reasoning behind it or just any opinions. PLEASE HELP

Answer 1

If you want to separate from social science arguments, you can look at animal behavior/biology to answer why females may have higher "expectations" in males than males in females.

 

Biologically, reproduction is typically more costly for one gender than another. In most mammals, females have a higher investment: offspring development within sexual reproductive organs, higher caloric intake needed during gestation, and females can only produce one reproductive unit at a time (one litter, etc.). 

 

Most males, on the other hand, reproduce externally--sperm is inserted into female reproductive organs. Aside from the sexual act, males do not have the biological investment of needing higher caloric intake or increased risk of suffering death from predators. Moreover, males can reproduce at a faster rate: their reproductive success is limited only by the time it takes to produce more sperm.

 

The more imbalanced sexual reproductive success is, the more imbalanced each gender's behavior will be. For example, you can tell the sexual reproductive investment of both genders based on appearance in many animals. If males in a species engage in mating behavior or have beautiful plumage (or, plumage different from females), then it is unlikely that they invest in the development of offspring. Males in these species invest in their appearance in order to attract females. The more similar each gender looks predicts that investment is more equal between the sexes.

 

In regards to humans, females may have higher "expectations" in men because females have 9 month pregnancies; in addition, females tend to invest more in the rearing of children than males. Human females and males are not that dissimilar in appearance which suggests that optimum child development requires investment from both parents. But, the biological responsibility of gestation lies with human females and we typically can only birth one infant at a time. Thus, because females have a higher investment in sexual reproduction, females tend to have higher expectations.

Answer 2

The question assumes that women do, in fact, have "higher expectations in men." To begin with, here are the problems I see in the question:

 

1) It generalizes, so the way it's expressed, ALL woman have higher expectations than men do;

2) "Expectations" is a vague word in this case. Expectations of what? Is it claiming that women expect more from the men

     they know than men expect from the women they know? Does it claim that women are seeking men who are more

     handsome, more powerful, more something and that men are much readier to accept women who are less

     attractive, less successful, less... something?

 

So we start to see the basic problem with the question itself. It's vague and generalizes wildly.

 

Now, if you accept the premise, that women in general expect more in some way than men do (and that's a gigantic "if"), why might that be?  Perhaps women demand more from relationships because women, who are still the primary caregivers in families, have a more well-rounded view of human relationships and what is most likely to make a relationship work.

 

Attractive women might hold out for more attractive and successful mates because many men want them and they are in a position to exercise greater choice.

 

As the question is written, it's hard to answer. You'd have to at least know what is meant by "expect."

 

Answer 3

This is just my estimated guess. One might argue that women have higher expectations of men because of the roles men and women have traditionally played in society. Women had to rely on their partner to provide financial and physical security for her and their family. Women have been expected to stay home with their children while the man goes to work to provide for the family. That means that the woman has to put a lot of trust in her husband to fulfill this role, because the entire family will be adversely effected should he fail. Not only does she have to worry about the financial future of her family, she has to think about whether her partner will respect her as an equal in the household.

 

However, you could also argue that men have just as high expectations of the women in today's society. Women are being expected to help provide for the family financially, as well as, maintain the formerly traditional roles of a housewife by taking care of the house and children. We think of women as having higher expectations because women are more vocal about their feelings and desires than men.

 

That is my answer based on my knowledge of history and what issues women might still have in their mind while searching for a man. However, I'm sure that you will find the height of women's expectations and the reasons behind them will vary greatly between cultural backgrounds.