We are born into families that we do not choose, sent off to schools that we are unaware of, and often make friends accidentally. Once our education is complete, we then embark on our professional careers, which usually consist of a series of haphazard steps as opposed to a well thought out trajectory.

It would seem that the only thing we can control is who we want to spend the rest of our lives with, for better or worse, until death do us part (or, at least in North America, until things become unbearable).

do you, well, do you... punk?
 
 

Ages ago, women were at our mercy in many ways. As men, we were seen as, and generally were, the providers of the family. We could usually leverage our "good names," stellar education and job opportunities into hooking and lining the best females.

Once settled, we could assume that children were right around the corner. At the turn of the 20th century, women began to vote, men went off to wars, women entered the workforce, and next thing you knew, women were no longer dependent. Slowly but surely, women's roles in households and companies shifted.

Increasingly, they became our peers, partners and competitors -- and fierce ones at that. Today, Carly Fiorina leads the way at HP, Patricia F. Russo steers the boat at Lucent, while many more call the shots in one way or another. That is fitting since women seemed to call the shots in the greatest institution of them all -- home.

Ironically, Fortune magazine even came up with a cover story, revealing the secret weapon in every successful professional woman's career: Her stay-at-home husband. Certainly not all men will be able to chuck their careers and egos to play "Mr. Mom." But what is happening is that less and less women are willing to sweep their goals and aspirations under the rug and play housewife.

As men, what are we to do? Do we buck the trend and find the perfect housewife to pamper us, or do we go with the tide and try to find a powerhouse of a woman who will be CEO of a Fortune 500 company? Well, like everything else in life, it all depends.

The Trophy Wife
 
 

Gary Wendt served as head of GE Capital during the late 1980s and early 1990s. Under his guidance, GE Capital's profits contributed the lion's share of GE's bottom line. When he divorced his wife, he had to pay through the teeth because, according to his ex-wife's lawyer, Ms. Wendt was his partner in life. It was thanks to her that he could do all that he did on the professional front. And like all good partners, she was entitled to her fair share of the pie.

Did she deserve half? Hell no!

Was this a fair assessment? No, not really. But who said life is fair? After all, Mr. Wendt's lawyer could have argued (not that I am, of course) that if you sum up the value of a maid, cook, nanny, and so forth, it would cost far, far less than what she ended up getting. Again, surely I am not suggesting that she was not a partner, perhaps just that Mr. Wendt's lawyer could have done better.

Mr. Wendt's wife surely was an asset; after all, assuming she would cook, clean, raise the children, pamper him, be supportive and understanding, and have the "mother of all houses," that would surely make Mr. Wendt a happy camper. So happy, in fact, one would argue that he could go out and execute at work, and reap the rewards. But I digress: The purpose of this article is not to debate whether Ms. Wendt deserved 50% of the spoils, but whether a man is better served by settling down with a Trophy Wife or a Business Babe.

Business Babe
 
On the flip side of the coin is someone like Carly Fiorina, Patricia Russo, or while we are at it, Hillary Clinton. Does a man gain more by having such a maverick by his side? Well, the first thing such a man needs to recognize is that no self-respecting "business babe" would consider herself to be your lieutenant.

In her eyes, and usually rightfully so, she is your equal, if not above you. Do you think that if Carly Fiorina's husband wanted to have kids, she would stay at home and become a baby factory? Say what you want about Mrs. Clinton, but she surely proved to be a great asset to former President Clinton because she had the political savvy to assist him in getting into office and had the business acumen not to unleash hell on him during the entire Lewinsky fiasco.

On the other hand, as much as we cherish intelligence, ambition and drive, sometimes we are fed up of office politics, rhetoric and debating when we get home. We really do want someone to enjoy life with. Which brings us to why so many women date so-called "losers."

Reality demonstrates that as women gain independence, they need not date men for what they can offer them, but rather, for how they make them feel. And this is a good thing. If more women settled with men they truly appreciated, we would have better relationships, more successful marriages and, eventually, fewer divorces.

trump versus clinton
 
One man who opted for the Trophy Wife over the Business Babe is Donald Trump. The problem there was that, very much like Gary Wendt, when his marriage turned sour, he paid... and then some. It is almost as though men pay a premium for such trophy wives who often turn out to be busts -- often figuratively and literally.

And although good old Bill chose the other route, the fact that he keeps getting caught with his hand in the cookie jar must say something about the satisfaction of his union. So make your decision carefully. In a perfect world, a little bit of everything is great.