I earn more than the men I date. I don’t care. But they do.

But this conundrum remains: I want the protection and love of a man while maintaining my own alpha qualities. And I will never again hide or play down my success to appease anyone, especially not my partner.

— Shannon Lell, washingtonpost.com

Double Standards Dating Economic Empowerment Powerful Women Ambitious Women

Yet men are still expected to be protectors and providers. I’ll admit that I benefit from this dynamic. I love that men want to defend the ones they love with strength and fierce determination. I go weak in the knees when a man I’m seeing comes to rescue me from a broken pipe or possessed electronic…

— Shannon Lell, washingtonpost.com

Double Standards Dating Economic Empowerment Powerful Women Ambitious Women

I keep running up against this power dynamic in the dating world, and I blame our culture’s preoccupation with wealth. For many decades, men had greater access to high-paying careers. They still have more access than women do, but the gender pay gap is narrowing.

— Shannon Lell, washingtonpost.com

Double Standards Dating Economic Empowerment Powerful Women Ambitious Women

Our society likes women to be smart and beautiful but also quiet and appeasing. When a woman is opinionated or more traditionally “successful,” it can be threatening to her male partner.

— Shannon Lell, washingtonpost.com

Double Standards Dating Economic Empowerment Powerful Women Ambitious Women

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