Female Supremacy Articles - Page 26

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Professor Beveridge said the gap is largely driven by a gulf in education: 53 percent of women employed full time in their 20s were college graduates, compared with 38 percent of men. Women are also more likely to have graduate degrees. ''They have more of everything,'' Professor Beveridge said.

The shift is playing out in new, unanticipated ways on the dating front. Women are encountering forms of hostility they weren't prepared to meet, and are trying to figure out how to balance pride in their accomplishments against their perceived need to bolster the egos of the men they date.

A lot of young women ''are of two minds,'' said Stephanie Coontz, director of research at the Council on Contemporary Families, a research organization. ''On one hand, they're proud of their achievements, and they think they want a man who shares house chores and child care. But on the other hand they're scared by their own achievement, and they're a little nervous having a man who won't be the main breadwinner. These are old tapes running in their head: 'This is how you get a man.' ''

YOUNG affluent women say they are learning to advertise their good fortune in a manner very different from their male counterparts. For men, it is accepted, even desirable, to flaunt their high status. Not so for many women.