Big Dave
16th March 2006, 15:56
SYDNEY MORNING HERALD
A girl's choice: dumb and dumber
A "man drought" in New Zealand is forcing its women into the arms of dumber, poorer partners.
A shortfall of men aged 20 to 49 in the Shaky Isles has sparked a wave of "marrying down" by desperate women, researchers say.
They found New Zealand women in that age group outnumber males by 33,000 to 53,000, making a good Kiwi man even harder to find.
Government demographer Paul Callister said this meant more professional women were marrying men with less schooling and cash.
This was largely because of a lack of eligible men of equal educational or economic status, he said.
The worst imbalance was in the 30 to 34 age group with nine per cent more females.
Auckland hairdresser Amy Winter, 27, said the dearth of decent blokes meant it was man-dregs or nothing.
"There's far too many beautiful girls compared with how many boys there are," she said.
"On Friday nights I usually hang with my girlfriends and go into town, but there don't seem to be many boys around.
"The blokes that are around aren't up to standard - they're not the full package, they might have one thing out of 10."
Manager of the Shakespeare Tavern in Auckland City, Jonny Murray, said the story the same from the other side of the bar.
He said the pub's classy female customers had complained of sub-standard romantic fare.
"I've heard comments from a couple of our ladies that it's hard to find a decent bloke," he said.
"Our customers are 25 to 30-plus women with money - they're professional people with a bit of coin behind them.
"But on Friday nights there's a lot of women in here on their own, or in groups with no blokes.
"We get a lot of men in here looking for women, but they're a bit simian-like, they get too pissed.
"They don't really have the finesse - they have one too many beers and it's all over."
But a lack of competition meant even the biggest Kiwi Kong could be lucky in love, Mr Murray said.
"There's a joker I know who's been grinning from ear-to-ear," he said.
"He said the amount of women about is fantastic - it's not an urban myth, they're wading in women."
A girl's choice: dumb and dumber
A "man drought" in New Zealand is forcing its women into the arms of dumber, poorer partners.
A shortfall of men aged 20 to 49 in the Shaky Isles has sparked a wave of "marrying down" by desperate women, researchers say.
They found New Zealand women in that age group outnumber males by 33,000 to 53,000, making a good Kiwi man even harder to find.
Government demographer Paul Callister said this meant more professional women were marrying men with less schooling and cash.
This was largely because of a lack of eligible men of equal educational or economic status, he said.
The worst imbalance was in the 30 to 34 age group with nine per cent more females.
Auckland hairdresser Amy Winter, 27, said the dearth of decent blokes meant it was man-dregs or nothing.
"There's far too many beautiful girls compared with how many boys there are," she said.
"On Friday nights I usually hang with my girlfriends and go into town, but there don't seem to be many boys around.
"The blokes that are around aren't up to standard - they're not the full package, they might have one thing out of 10."
Manager of the Shakespeare Tavern in Auckland City, Jonny Murray, said the story the same from the other side of the bar.
He said the pub's classy female customers had complained of sub-standard romantic fare.
"I've heard comments from a couple of our ladies that it's hard to find a decent bloke," he said.
"Our customers are 25 to 30-plus women with money - they're professional people with a bit of coin behind them.
"But on Friday nights there's a lot of women in here on their own, or in groups with no blokes.
"We get a lot of men in here looking for women, but they're a bit simian-like, they get too pissed.
"They don't really have the finesse - they have one too many beers and it's all over."
But a lack of competition meant even the biggest Kiwi Kong could be lucky in love, Mr Murray said.
"There's a joker I know who's been grinning from ear-to-ear," he said.
"He said the amount of women about is fantastic - it's not an urban myth, they're wading in women."