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Parental investment
The idea of parental investment is common both in humans and in the animal kingdom and derives from the fact that across most species there is an imbalance in the amount of time each parent invests in their offspring. Parental investment acts as a determinant of offspring survival, and accessing this investment is important for the sex that doesn’t provide as much PI. This theory states that the sex that invests the most time in raising its offspring is the limiting sex: it is more selective when choosing a mate. The other sex thus invests most of their time in competing for and courting mates. Sexual selection by the limiting sex is stronger the larger the disparity between PI between the sexes. Whilst parental investment is relatively equal in humans, females are the selective sex because males are able to impregnate a number of females, whilst one male may only impregnate a female and they must invest a lot of time initially into the pregnancy. However, the investment by males does mean that males are also selective, and thus females ornaments have evolved to address this. According to evolutionary psychology, PI explains why females tend to focus on traits indicating a superior resource acquisition ability, whilst males tend to focus on signals of fertility: females are selective of their mate; males are selective over when they invest.

Resources
Males with the ability and willingness to provide resources are highly desirable to females. In our evolutionary past, this would have been demonstrated through the ability to provide food, shelter, and protection. In modern day humans cues to high resource acquisition are presented in different ways. Cross-culturally, females show an increased preference for economic resources than do males, and those males who marry at a certain age tend to earn significantly more than males of the same age who do not marry. As females often choose mates young, the amounts of resources that they actually possess may be small. Therefore, females seek traits indicative of potential resource acquisition ability such as a good education, ambition, and career potential. If a male becomes unemployed or lazy, the female is far more likely to discontinue the relationship with them. In fact, even clothing can act as a cue for sexual selection. with females more willing to engage in relationships with men wearing high status clothing.

Age
Age is another trait which is sexually selected for by females. Studies have consistently found that females tend to select mates that are roughly 4 years older than themselves, and this even applies cross-culturally. Older men are much more likely to be more financially secure and further along in their career, thus able to provide greater economic resources to the female and any future offspring.

Gender differences
Mating preferences are not only confined to long-term relationships. Men and women have developed separate sexual strategies that are used for both short-term and long-term mate gain. Psychological adaptations such as mate guarding and sexual jealousy, and biological adaptations such as men’s testes size indicate that polygamy was present in evolutionary history, and is preferred in certain situations. Short term mating forms a larger part of the male sexual strategy, largely due to PI, with men more willing to engage in intercourse sooner and preferring a larger number of partners than women. Yet mate preference changes depending on the strategy being used...

Sex differences in mating strategy preference
New section heading for old 'Gender differences' section.