A shortage of husband material is the driving force behind the rapid rise of women in high-paying positions and college classrooms.

Tom Jacobs at Miller McCune reports that this scarcity is leading women "to prioritize money and material success." In other words, if a woman believes that her ability to find a potential long-term mate is jeopardized, her professional decisions are greatly impacted.

A recently published study in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology says:

"Sex ratios involving a scarcity of men led women to seek lucrative careers because of the difficulty women have in finding an investing, long-term mate under such circumstances. Accordingly, this low-male sex ratio produced the strongest desire for lucrative careers in women who are least able to secure a mate."

Researchers examined "the ratio of unmarried men to unmarried women ages 15 to 44; the ratio of men to women in 10 high-paying jobs, and the average maternal age at first birth" for the 50 states and D.C. They found that as the "number of marriageable men decreased, women had fewer children, and when women did have children, they had them at later ages.”

Jacobs concludes that "perhaps it’s time to add a corollary to the cliche: If a good man is hard to find, you’d better find a good job."