In the past, women were not allowed to be educated or to work. Therefore, in order to put a roof over her head, she had no choice but to marry. Under such a situation, it would be easy for a man to find a woman to marry because all women desperately needed to marry in order to put a roof over her head, a basic necessity.

However, nowadays women are educated and work. Single women earn about as much as men and they perform just as well if not better than men academically. However, this advantage goes away when women marry men. A woman who marries a man typically faces falling income, which is likely due to staying home to look after babies.

Given that a woman will face a large pay cut if she marries and has children, she needs to make sure that the man she marries is worth it, which would explain why her pickiness would increase. Many women are capable of supporting themselves and putting a roof over their own heads, so they don't need men as much anymore.

This rise in female empowerment seems to be correlated to fertility rate. Places where women are richer and more educated tend to be places where fertility rate are lower. When given the choice, women tend to have fewer kids.

What this suggests is that the only solution to female pickiness is taking away women's rights, which does not seem like a palatable option.

Another option rather than take away female rights in order to boost fertility rate is to simply let fertility rate decline. There are many good arguments for this e.g. overpopulation, pollution, and animal welfare. Declining fertility rate can help reduce demand for scarce natural resources such as clean water.