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<TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=1 width="100%" border=0><TBODY><TR><TD><SPAN class=TopStory>What women want in a man</SPAN>
<SPAN class=Subheadline></SPAN></TD></TR><TR><TD>Mark Wignall
Thursday, August 24, 2006
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<TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=5 width=86 align=left border=0><TBODY><TR><TD>
</TD></TR><TR><TD><SPAN class=Description>Mark Wignall</SPAN></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE><P class=StoryText align=justify>IN my light-hearted column last week, 'What some men want in a woman', the views of a small sample of 30 working class men were given and quite a few of my online readers, including highly placed professionals, saw it as respite from the politics, the grime and daily concerns about Jamaica's poor economic performance over too many years.<P class=StoryText align=justify>In my column today, I have done some refining. The question asked this time was, 'What are the three ideal qualities that you would be looking for in a man who you wanted to take on as a husband or a live-in boyfriend?'<P class=StoryText align=justify>Although the sample was still small at 30 and very unscientific, I found that by interviewing in supermarkets, various shops, parking lots and plazas, I captured a better socio-economic mix rather than just working class persons as in the week before. In this week's refining, I kept the age grouping to below 35 in an effort to lessen the percentage of those who could say, 'Been there, done that.'<P class=StoryText align=justify>The main responses to the question were:<P class=StoryText align=justify>Responsibility 67%
Good looks/ personality 55%
Ambition 50%
Honesty 50%
He must be loving/caring 50%
Communication skills 33%
Economic strength/viability 30%
Must be adaptable 28%
Must be a good lover 18%
Must respect my independence 7%
Must have oral sex skills 3%<P class=StoryText align=justify>Overall, the working class women in the sample gave 'better' responses than the working class men in last week's sample. It was obvious to me that the women were not just better educated than their male counterparts but more intelligent. It could also be that women have a natural 'nesting' tendency and this forces upon them use of their survival skills, especially in a society where too many of our young men are just 'hanging out' and waiting for things to happen rather than facing their economic realities full frontal and dealing with it positively.<P class=StoryText align=justify>The younger women in the sample placed more priority on the 'hot boy' chase while still wanting their men to have the ideal qualities of ambition, honesty and being gentle and loving. While the men in last week's sample could hardly be considered ideal 'catches' based on likely earning power, social skills and looks, about 40 per cent of the sample of young women were quite good-looking.<P class=StoryText align=justify>I am certain that good-looking people want to be with good-looking people. I know of no ugly man who wants an ugly wife so that both of them can produce an ugly child whose passage through prep and high schools will be a living hell.<P class=StoryText align=justify>It is incumbent on an ugly man to make an economic success of his life. Money provides him with not just the creature comforts but it actually makes him feel better about himself. If he feels better, he will begin to look better and women will sense the power in him beyond his gull wing ears and missing lower lip. Years later, people will see them together - the pretty wife and Quasimodo - and say, 'Dear God, what does she see in him.' If only they knew.<P class=StoryText align=justify>None of the women in the sample spoke of wanting their men to take care of them, although traits like 'responsibility', 'ambition' and 'economic strength' were probably speaking to their mates being in a position to
<SPAN class=Subheadline></SPAN></TD></TR><TR><TD>Mark Wignall
Thursday, August 24, 2006
</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>
<TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=5 width=86 align=left border=0><TBODY><TR><TD>
</TD></TR><TR><TD><SPAN class=Description>Mark Wignall</SPAN></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE><P class=StoryText align=justify>IN my light-hearted column last week, 'What some men want in a woman', the views of a small sample of 30 working class men were given and quite a few of my online readers, including highly placed professionals, saw it as respite from the politics, the grime and daily concerns about Jamaica's poor economic performance over too many years.<P class=StoryText align=justify>In my column today, I have done some refining. The question asked this time was, 'What are the three ideal qualities that you would be looking for in a man who you wanted to take on as a husband or a live-in boyfriend?'<P class=StoryText align=justify>Although the sample was still small at 30 and very unscientific, I found that by interviewing in supermarkets, various shops, parking lots and plazas, I captured a better socio-economic mix rather than just working class persons as in the week before. In this week's refining, I kept the age grouping to below 35 in an effort to lessen the percentage of those who could say, 'Been there, done that.'<P class=StoryText align=justify>The main responses to the question were:<P class=StoryText align=justify>Responsibility 67%Good looks/ personality 55%
Ambition 50%
Honesty 50%
He must be loving/caring 50%
Communication skills 33%
Economic strength/viability 30%
Must be adaptable 28%
Must be a good lover 18%
Must respect my independence 7%
Must have oral sex skills 3%<P class=StoryText align=justify>Overall, the working class women in the sample gave 'better' responses than the working class men in last week's sample. It was obvious to me that the women were not just better educated than their male counterparts but more intelligent. It could also be that women have a natural 'nesting' tendency and this forces upon them use of their survival skills, especially in a society where too many of our young men are just 'hanging out' and waiting for things to happen rather than facing their economic realities full frontal and dealing with it positively.<P class=StoryText align=justify>The younger women in the sample placed more priority on the 'hot boy' chase while still wanting their men to have the ideal qualities of ambition, honesty and being gentle and loving. While the men in last week's sample could hardly be considered ideal 'catches' based on likely earning power, social skills and looks, about 40 per cent of the sample of young women were quite good-looking.<P class=StoryText align=justify>I am certain that good-looking people want to be with good-looking people. I know of no ugly man who wants an ugly wife so that both of them can produce an ugly child whose passage through prep and high schools will be a living hell.<P class=StoryText align=justify>It is incumbent on an ugly man to make an economic success of his life. Money provides him with not just the creature comforts but it actually makes him feel better about himself. If he feels better, he will begin to look better and women will sense the power in him beyond his gull wing ears and missing lower lip. Years later, people will see them together - the pretty wife and Quasimodo - and say, 'Dear God, what does she see in him.' If only they knew.<P class=StoryText align=justify>None of the women in the sample spoke of wanting their men to take care of them, although traits like 'responsibility', 'ambition' and 'economic strength' were probably speaking to their mates being in a position to