Over the past decade New York psychotherapist Dr Sonya Rhodes noticed a pattern in the women coming to her practice. All were “self-confident, accomplished, sexual” but there was something missing — they complained about being “unhappy and frustrated by their lack of success in relationships” she writes in her new book The Alpha Woman Meets Her Match. How Today’s Strong Women Can Find Love and Happiness Without Settling.

Dr Rhodes, a relationship expert with 30 years' experience, considered why these “new Alpha women”, were failing to find someome to share their lives with. She concluded that instead of looking for a man as successful as themselves, they should reject an Alpha man in favour of their “dependable, responsible, and supportive” Beta opposite — a man who “might just make the best fit” she says.

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A typical Alpha woman is self-reliant, can explore her sexuality and make her own life choices, says Dr Rhodes and she is on the rise in education and the professions. But all too often she thinks her perfect partner is someone like her. However a partnership of two Alphas is a recipe for disaster, according to Dr Rhodes. “Clinical experience has shown me that this partnership is at the greatest risk for divorce, because two Alphas will tend to compete for power and dominance” she writes. You only have to think of Gwyneth Paltrow and Chris Martin to see how two Alphas might clash.

The type of man she should be looking for is not afraid of strong women she says. “He is cooperative but not compliant, accomplished but not a workaholic, assertive but not confrontational. He is the man many contemporary women have been waiting for, but he is not adequately appreciated in a culture where the Alpha male has reigned supreme.”