Risking to sound like a gold digger I can tell you this: In today's world income is a refelection of person's mind, IQ, education, personality, social and professional skills, confidence. And that's what people (not only women) want in their partner. Nobody wants to date a loser, do they? Is here anybody who would be really interested in a dumb, unachieving, extremely shy and introverted person? Didn't think so.. By the way, there is some study showing that woman's income is important to men as well, but in a different way. Men do not want to date women in the lowest bracket of income range (for the very same reasons listed above!), but they also shy away from women earning a lot (man's ego!). An ideal female partner should earn somewhere in middle, right?. . PS - just for the records -I'm dating a guy who earns less than i do.