Women marry a lot of different kinds of men, for example: men who make them laugh. Men who are attentive, or ambitious, or well spoken, travelled, groomed, serious, sensitive, quiet, gregarious or any number of adjectives, none of which directly reflect their income.
In simple terms, a lot of,the thread here is guys super imposing the logic of power and position onto 'women'.
A specific type of person seeks mates primarily because of their position, these tend to be ambitious and ambition valuing people.
This is in no way the full set of women.
Yes Statistically, the logic of evolution will result in a bias. Women would love to marry an Adonis who was a PE fund owner, or a cardio-neuron surgeon.
It doesn't mean people wither away, waiting for it to happen.
The most popular trope is not of dr rich, or mr moneybags - its Prince Charming.
Your spouse will be found through the places you visit, the education you attend, via the people you meet, the places you work and and the hobbies you enjoy.
Not just because of the size of your paycheck.
And your spouse will very likely try their level best (all things held equal) to help you out when your paycheck is down, the same way many wives have been all through the recession when people were laid off, and their husbands (and themselves) weren't rising up the corporate ladder.
You may never know why, precisely, your spouse decided you were worth spending the rest of their life with.
But its not just because of biological programming.
Personally, I don't agree with their belief. We can acknowledge differences between the sexes, yet maintain equal opportunity for those who want to oppose the norm.
Meet the new boss, same as the old boss.
My claim: almost every human adult has had at least one sexual partner. I can only find decent studies surveying modernity, but for example: http://www.nbcnews.com/id/19374216/. Assuming most humans having sex is not a recent development, any evolutionary pressures, if they exist at all, on the sexually active population are unclear at best; however, there may be pressures against the tiny few who go through life abstinent.
"After a study by the National Institute of Population and Social Security Research last year found a massive increase in the number of virgins in [Japan], some academics criticised the way the research was reported.
Of 5,000 single people surveyed, the government department found 42 per cent of men and 44 per cent of women had never had sex."
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/asia/japan-couples-s...
To dismiss out of hand thousands of years of evolution and think the last 50+ years of modern societal change can completely counteract biological forces is.. wishful thinking?
I mean, this explanation is at least as good as any other speculation in this thread.