Young women freezing their eggs while waiting for ‘good man’

Women are freezing their eggs because there is a shortage of good men

More young women are choosing to freeze their eggs than ever before – and it’s all because there aren’t enough good men on the market.

A study at Yale University has claimed that there is a ‘dearth of educated men’ for intelligent, professional women to start families with.

As a result, more women than ever are preserving their fertility as they age by having their eggs frozen, the report found.

Professor Marcia Inhorn, the anthropologist behind the study, said there is an ‘oversupply’ of graduate women – and not enough men for them to partner up with.

Prof Inhorn said the problem is exacerbated in countries where the number of young women going to university outnumbers the men – as is the case in the UK

And one possible solution, she believes, is women dropping their standards to find a man.

Speaking at the European Society of Human Reproduction and Embryology conference in Switzerland, she said: ‘In China they call them ‘left over women’. It sounds cold and callous but in demographic terms this is about missing men and left over women.

‘These are highly educated, very successful women and one after another they were saying they couldn’t find a partner.

‘How could it be that all these amazing, attractive, intelligent women were lamenting about their ability to find a partner?

‘The answer comes in the demographics – growing disparities in the education levels of men and women.’

Her study focused on 150 women in the US and Isreal having their eggs frozen.

More than 90% told her they chose to do so because they were not married, with 81% having a university degree.

Prof Inhorn said intelligent women should be prepared to settle down with a less educated partner in order to keep their options open.

She added: ‘Most women who are educated would like to have an educated partner.

‘Maybe women need to be prepared to be more open to the idea of a relationship with someone not as educated. But also maybe we need to be doing something about our boys and young men, to get them off to a better start.’