This may have been said before, but I was musing about this today. Let's start with some simple numbers. Suppose a woman has 100 potential suitors, ascribing the 80/20 rule means she will give 20 men at least a date. I don't know about you, but I don't personally know any women who have the time to date 20 men. I think 3-5 is the norm for most.

Don't think most women have 100 suitors? All I have to say is Tinder. Any halfway attractive woman in a decently populated area will get 100 matches on Tinder, for hot women in cities it's probably much higher even. Don't do online dating? It doesn't matter. If she does, you are still competing against these men.

So for sake of computing some simple numbers, lets say a woman has time to date 5 men. Woman A has 25 suitors 5/25 = 20% (the 80/20 rule holds true) Woman B has 100 suitors 5/100 = 5% (probably closer to reality for many these days) Woman C has 500 suitors 5/500 = 1%

So as I've shown the percentage of men that will "make the cut" is a function of how many suitors a woman has. Which in turn is a function of her attractiveness and location.

The only constant isn't a percentage, but simply how many men a woman has time to date. This is exactly why the more options available to the average woman, the harder it becomes for the average guy.