I’m sure you’ve heard many a successful single woman lament that there’s a ‘male drought’…and that all the good men are ‘taken’. Maybe you, too, think that the eligible, available male of the species is invisible, has become extinct or gone to ground?

Not so! Often potentially compatible guys and gals miss out on a relationship because of out-dated expectations they have about the desired mate. It would seem that many successful single women are on the look-out for the wrong attributes in men when it comes to a partner to share life.

Once upon a time when the roles of male and female were more clearly defined, it was not so hard to know what we needed and wanted from each other. When a man’s eligibility was assayed in large part by such things as his ability to earn and to provide for his family – and a woman’s by her femininity, domestic skills and desire to bear and care for children, things were much clearer.

These days, it is increasingly common for women to have successful careers and not need a partner to financially support them. For many, their work demands that they commit the long hours and a great deal of energy as was once the lot of the man…a real challenge when it comes to having quality time available to focus on a relationship and domesticity. Yet when it comes to partner seeking, such women will often say that they seek a mate who is more successful, who earns more and who has an even more demanding career – men who may well not be looking for them!

What man –or woman – really needs a relationship where both are so busy that it requires juggling diaries to find time to spend with each other?

I believe for the single of today who wants to find ‘that special someone’ it is important to consider what we really need in a partner as opposed to what we think is socially desirable… what really matters most on our wish list!

As Prime Minister of Australia, Julia Gillard’s role would have to be one of the most demanding occupied by a woman in our world of today. Her partner was a hairdresser before giving up his own career to provide her with his much appreciated support.

Is this a model for the future of relationships?