> In the 20th and 21th century we had this women's liberation thing, where both mates should be able to provide for their children, instead of picking the mate

> In the 20th and 21th century we had this women's liberation thing, where both mates should be able to provide for their children, instead of picking the mate that will provide for you. The things they are talking about are proxies for being able to provide for one's children. Women need to survive child birth and raise a healthy baby (which required breastfeeding until very recently) hence so much emphasis placed on specific physical characteristics. Women need men to provide for the family while they take care of the children, hence the emphasis on resource accrual. Yes there are other options now, but they go against our evolution to date. They are also arguably not child-rearing focused and more along the lines of "providing for you".