Smart Girls Finish Last?

Yesterday, I only managed a cursory glance at the Bulletin and because of that, a string of articles which I thought was ironic caught my eye. Somehow I found them related to each other and in some sense can make one fairly caught in a bind as to which one we should follow.

The first was an article by our infamous Ignatius entitled thought yesterday's Weekend Bulletin Smart Girls Finish Last. Stephens talked about how Brunei women now well educated and well positioned are finding it increasingly hard to find a life partner. This is based on observations that many women now holding middle ranking positions, well educated and capable yet incapable in finding husbands. According to Stephens, there are many of these instances in Brunei. The article blamed men. A quote from a businesswoman - "Brunei men like submissive women. They easily get intimidated. They demand dominance. But this day and age that is getting not so easy." This phenomena is not limited to Brunei but is a worldwide issue. Though Stephens ended the article by pointing out that marriage may not be necessary. A number of doctors and psychiatrists hold the opinion that their unmarried women patients tended to be happier than many married ones.

The second was an article written by Suparman talking about how to find a partner (from the male angle) entitled For Love or Money. He started the article by asking "are you satisfied with your girlfriends?". An interesting start indeed. He asked whether to choose men have chosen carefully or always on the lookout for even better partners - beauty, wealth and love. He talked about the difficulty of finding partners. Where do you meet your loved ones?

The third was an article written by Saraziz entitled When the Magic Fizzles Out. This is about a man who after 20 years of marriage seemingly having it all - wife, kids and career. But But marriage, for him, is a big disappointment with the thrill going out of marriage. Everything has become a routine. His world rotating around a single set of rules: "get up, get ready for work, send the children to school, busy myself in the office, pick my children up, send them to ugama school, get home from work, pick the children up from ugama school, perform my prayers, have dinner and go to bed." To get the "sparks" the man eventually had affairs with others.

Finding partners have always been difficult. Last July when I posted two articles entitled Looking for a Partner in Brunei? (Part 2) and Looking for a Partner in Brunei? there were many comments and to date, those 55 comments for the two articles remained the biggest for any postings. In today's world, education and career have taken a more prominent role. Time passes by so quickly that by the time, one realises it, you are not as young as you used to be. So what happens when the biological clock is ticking against you? Is it time to get desperate or as Stephens and Suraziz says it - maybe it is not such a bad thing after all. I don't know. I have always been for procreation especially when Brunei does not seem to have enough people. But then what do I know.