Volume 9 • Issue 2 • 1000335 Arts Social Sci J, an open access journal ISSN: 2151-6200 Research Article Open Access Arts and Social Sciences Journal A r t s a n d S o ci a l S c i e n c e s J o u r n a l ISSN: 2151-6200 Sarir et al., Arts Social Sci J 2018, 9:2 DOI: 10.4172/2151-6200.1000335 Keywords: Physical attractiveness; Mate selection; Education Introduction Mate selection is one of the most important decisions in a person’s life. It is not a simple but complex phenomenon for every male and female. Before they move for the act of marriage, both have different considerations. e process of mate selection in fact consists of a series of steps where decision regarding mate is made through external characteristics such as appearance, social class or manners, attitude, beliefs and common values [1]. Other factors determining mate selection include paternal and maternal preferences that predominantly prevailed more in traditional societies. However, for many people today, romance is now an important determinant in selecting a life partner [2- 5]. ough variations in mate selection do exist in various societies; the main philosophy is the reproduction, continuity of family name as explicit elements while sex satisfaction as implicit in nature. Human physical considerations such as age, bravery, beauty are some additional influencing factors [6]. Mate selection, rather getting married in Pakistani context, has been widely perceived a matter of extreme significance in Pakistanis’ lives. It is not just an agreement between two partners but an exercise which involves religion and culture as well. e decisions of parents and other family members are considered highly important in this regard. e mate selection yardsticks differ from family to family based on their unique way of thinking (Gulzar and Husain) however, physical characteristics or facial attractiveness is an integral part of aesthetic preference needed to select a mate of life in all societies of the world including Pakistan [7,8]. Perilloux et al. [9] found physical attractiveness and being socio-economically stable are the top priorities worldwide. Bronstad, Russel, Rhodes et al. and Winkielman et.al report face as a unique social stimulus in interaction with the potential mate [10-12]. It provides a ray of information about the gender, race and emotions of the potential mate. e major feature in fact attracts and influences the opposite sex is facial attractiveness prevalent across the groups, cultures and society as a whole. For Hoppe et al. and Fisman et al., men and women when choosing life partners tend to go by physical qualities especially men give more importance to physical attractiveness [13,14]. Physical qualities like age, height and weight are important for both males and females. A slight difference in this respect is men favor young and thin females compared to women who like liked young and tall males. It is also agreed that physical qualities were more easily observable compared to education and occupation of the potential mate [15]. Similarly, Belot and Francesconi found women preferring young, tall and physically attractive males [16]. Berry and Miller state attractiveness as an independent predictor of mate relationship where more attractive women were interacted more than the less attractive women [17]. Women attractiveness was again not only counted as an important criterion for their personality but good predictor of quality of interaction among the potential couples. Females on the other hand, prefer those men who have higher socioeconomic status orare prosperous and older than them [9,18,19].e other major considerations of females are men intelligence, ambitions and potential for successful life along with the personal characteristics such as kindness, understanding, experiences and openness [20]. *Corresponding author: Abdul Sajid, College of Veterinary Sciences and Animal Husbandry, Abdul Wali Khan University, Garden Campus, Mardan, Pakistan, Tel: +92 937 9230640; E-mail: sajidvet137@awkum.edu.pk Received January 29, 2018; Accepted February 07, 2018; Published February 13, 2018 Citation: Sarir S, Muhammad N, Ala I, Jadoo MA, Iqbal S, et al. (2018) Role of Physical Attractiveness in Mate Selection by Educated Women in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. Arts Social Sci J 9: 335. doi: 10.4172/2151-6200.1000335 Copyright: © 2018 Sarir S, et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. Role of Physical Attractiveness in Mate Selection by Educated Women in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Saima Sarir 1 , Niaz Muhammad 2 , Intikhab Ala 3 , Mushtaq Ahmad Jadoo 4 , Shahid Iqbal 5 , Sudhair Abbas 5 , Abdul Sajid 6 * and Natasha Kashif 6 1 Department of Rural Sociology, The University of Agriculture, Peshawar, Pakistan 2 Department of Sociology, University of Peshawar, Pakistan 3 Department of Rural Sociology, Faculty of Rural Social Sciences, The University of Agriculture, Peshawar, Pakistan 4 Department of Rural Sociology, University of Peshawar, Pakistan 5 Sarhad university of Science and Information Technology, Peshawar, Pakistan 6 College of Veterinary Sciences and Animal Husbandry, Abdul Wali Khan University, Garden Campus, Mardan, Pakistan Abstract The present study was conducted to probe the role of physical attractiveness in mate selection among educated females of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. Data for the study were collected through pre-tested questionnaire from 278 sampled working women from three public sector universities in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa i.e. The University of Agriculture, University of Peshawar and Shaheed Benazir Bhutto Women University Peshawar. Results reveal that the females principally preferred well dressed, tall, broad shoulder, clean shaved, fair colored and physically attractive males with the same age and living in nuclear families. At the same time, there was a strong tendency of females towards westernization and materialistic values regarding mate selection. Despite emphasizing on physical characteristics, the females were also less concerned about physical appearance. A very large majority preferred economically sound intelligent man who have good job. The study recommends that an awareness campaign through mass media, religious leaders, civil society and political parties’ needs to launch to inform both the educated and uneducated females and their parents about the nature and impact of religious misinterpretations, western values, materialistic outlook and idealism affected the mate selection decision mainly.