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Nearly two thirds of British men say they would give up their career if their partner had the potential to earn more than they did, research revealed today.
Fifty-nine per cent of men under 45 would become house husbands if they thought their partner had a better chance of a successful career, the survey found.
Six out of ten would move to another part of the country, or even abroad, for the woman they loved, and 62% would do most of the chores if it meant spending more time with their beloved.
But only 21% wanted to get married in the next five years, and just 11% want children.
Women, on the other hand, seem to be prioritising their jobs. Nearly 80% of single women under 40 say they would put their career before any new relationship, with just 31% hoped to be married in the next five years.
And 25% were looking forward to having children, rising to 31% in the 25-34 age group.
When both men and women were asked to list the qualities they look for in a partner, the results were surprisingly similar.
Both groups listed honesty, loyalty, sense of humour and reliability as their top four qualities, and both rated non-smoking as the tenth most important trait.
Men placed a higher premium on sexual compatibility by putting it seventh, whereas women listed it in eighth place.
And 44% of men want their partner to be five to ten years younger, while 41% of women want their lover to be family and child orientated.
The researchers questioned 5000 single men and women to investigate how changes in society affect our expectations of a future relationship.
Psychiatrist and dating expert Dr Victoria Lukats led the research on the PARSHIP singles study.
She said: "If the attitudes of single men are anything to go by, perhaps there will be a further shift and blurring of traditional gender roles in the next five to ten years, especially as an increasing number of employers now offer paternity leave, career breaks and flexible working patterns.
"However, a major stumbling block which could prove hard to shift is that men still earn higher salaries on average than women, even before they have children. And in reality, it's still more often the woman who ends up
taking a career break or working part time when children come along.
"So whilst superficially, attitudes to gender roles amongst employees have shifted, inequalities in pay persist. This suggests deeper rooted factors are at play and it will take more than an open minded attitude towards male
employees before men are accepted as house husbands."
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