Study Finds That Women Would Rather Stay Single Than Compromise On This One Thing
Women are refusing to give up their most important values just to be in a relationship.
CoffeeAndMilk | Getty Images There are a lot of factors that go into determining what qualities a woman might look for in a partner. Things like emotional intelligence and awareness, kindness, humor, and how they treat their friends and family are just a few examples of traits that can reveal a lot about a person's character and how compatible they are.
However, a recent study revealed that there's actually one quality in particular that many women absolutely refuse to compromise on. Researchers from the University of Göttingen and the University of Jena in Germany analyzed responses from 13,257 single women in 144 countries through the Ideal Partner Survey and found that women tend to be really picky when it comes to a romantic partner's political leanings.
Women would rather stay single than compromise on their political views.
Researchers found that politics and the political beliefs of a person are dating dealbreakers when it comes to women. The study concluded that women on the far left are usually the pickiest, with 47% completely fine with being single if their significant other's views didn't align with their own.
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An estimated 41% of right-leaning women also rated politics over partnership, while moderates were far less likely to make politics a dealbreaker, with only 22% saying it was a top priority.
From the study's findings, conservative women were the ones who cared more about traditions, placing a lot of their value on religion, financial security, and even career success.
For more progressive and socialist women, tradition held little importance. For them, a partner who cared about the rights of those around them, and even people who didn't necessarily look like them, mattered way more. Considering the political landscape that we're living in right now, politics is now more about human rights and moral values than anything else.
Politics plays a significant role in the dating culture of today, particularly among younger generations.
According to a poll from NPR/PBS News/Marist, a majority of Americans under 45 said it's important to date or marry someone who shares their political views. It's a preference that appears to matter less to older people, however. Among Gen Z and young millennials, six in 10 feel it's important, compared to just a third of boomers.
In a TikTok video, Gen Z content creator Eumie pointed out that young women, in particular, take politics quite seriously when dating, to the point where men often struggle to understand. Eumie explained that conservative men in particular seem to think that women don't want to date them because they're "too short" or aren't "making enough money," when in reality, it's because of the fact that they voted for someone who repeatedly disparages and strips away rights from marginalized communities.
"That's unattractive to most women because that's an ugly trait to have," Eumie said. "It shows that you condone those behaviors. Young women are shifting more left, and if you continuously shift more right in response to that rhetoric, then, yeah, it makes you more unattractive to them."
While there may have once been a time when opposing political views didn't matter that much in dating, those days are long gone. It says a lot about the fact that many women would rather stay single than try to force compatibility with someone who doesn’t share any of their same moral values. It's women realizing that they don't want to have to shrink themselves to be with someone in any way, and that's not them being stubborn, but instead being self-aware enough to know their worth.
Nia Tipton is a staff writer with a bachelor's degree in creative writing and journalism who covers news and lifestyle topics that focus on psychology, relationships, and the human experience.
