What do women want? (Please flip this thread!)

[mollipops]

Hi! It's been a while since I have posted here, but I have been lurking when I get the chance while studying a social science degree.

This semester I am doing a womens studies unit and part of my first assignment is to ask women I know (and I count you wonderful mumsnetters as some of those women!) "What do you want?"

PLEASE flip this thread and/or respond to this before you read any other responses, so that your answer is truly completely and uniquely yours without being influenced by what others may say. (Which is why I'm not telling you my response yet! )

Thankyou so much!

I swear I didn't read Morocco's before I posted!

Men that understand them

Having just gone through a painful separation (we formally split about 8 weeks ago) I have been thinking about what I "want" in a man quite a lot.
What I want is a partner who is mature, confident in where he is at now and where he's going.
I also want someone who's intelligent, sociable and has at least a reasonable sense of humour.
Prefer a man who's not afraid of a bit of teasing and doesn't become sullen at the slightest hint of being patronised!
Of course must like/love kids!
Other things like common interests will probably be what attracts me to a man but ultimately will not keep us together unless the above characteristics are present to varying degrees.
As you have probably guessed I think that most of the things I am looking for were not present to some degree in my marriage!
Beyond men I think the main thing I want is a comfortable home and a degree of intellectual stimulation.

what I find interesting is not so much what we want but what women really need. I think I have wasted a lot of my time getting these two things muddled up.

am i supposed to be speaking for all women and making a generalisation or for myself. for myself i just want happiness.

Mollipops didn't make it clear if we are supposed to speak "as women" or just as "individuals". Mind you, the only thing I'd have to say "as a women" is that I want to be safe from rape.

To be loved for who I am.

Wow what a wonderful response - thank you! Sorry it wasn't clear but it was supposed to be what do YOU want, personally, as a woman.

Before I read them all, here's mine. I want...

To be loved and respected by those I love and respect.
To be happy and healthy.
To be able to speak my mind and to be really truly heard.
My children to be happy, healthy and confident adults.
To do paid work I find rewarding and enjoyable.
To find a balance between family and work for both me and dh.
A lasting, fulfilling marriage.
To be able to look in the mirror and be happy and at peace with the person I see.

Now to go and read everyone else's! Thank you all so much once again.

These are great! Fascinating really, how so much of what we want is somehow universal!

Keep 'em coming!

I haven't read all the other posts but above all I want to be valued and respected in everything I do (mother, wife, employee, friend etc.) and not taken for granted as is often the case. So often I feel like I am just the hired help at home - unpaid of course and treated worse than a slave, I'm 'only' a clerical officer at work to do all the things that everyone else feels is below them and dh thinks that when I've done all the housework/childcare type things I can suddenly flick a switch and become the loving, passionate wife (?!)

Other things that I would like are enough money, a house that is big enough for us not to be falling over each other, more time for me and kids that do as they are told.

I sound selfish now - they are all me things. Are we supposed to be saying what we want for ourselves or what we want for the world?

I would love the world to be a safe place - no terrorists, wars, drugs, crime etc and I'd like our children to be able to grow up in a safe environment where they can mature to make their own decisions, buy a house of their own and follow their chosen career. I'd also like to see a reliable way of testing for various cancers and other illnesses and being able to cure them quickly to stop unnecessary suffering.

OK, I have dutifully not read the other responses.

I assume that by 'What do you want?', you mean for me personally and not for my family or for the world at large and my answer would have to be 'nothing'.

I'm really not being smug and Lord knows I don't have everything I could want but I have enough and I'm happy and if it ain't broke don't fix it.

I wouldn't have given you this answer when I was in my twenties. I think you focus more on what you want and where you want to be and who you want to be then. But I'm in my thirties now and focus more on what I have than on what I don't have. So I want nothing. But thanks for asking.

Self-confidence.

Because if I truly believed in my own abilities, I could go out and achieve whatever I wanted.

To be happy, to have my family and friends around me and for them to be happy and healthy, not to worry quite so much, to be free of PND!!!!!!!!! To go wild once in a while, even if I regret it in the morning. And to be a bit slimmer than I am now.

And from my boyfriend (if that's what you're after) - for him to listen without thinking I want his 'opinion' and for him to be tidier.

Now I'm off to read the rest of the answers!!

1. World Peace

2. My children to be happy & healthy 3. All peodophiles in jail for LIFE 4. To be a size 8 5. To be able to play the piano 6. To win the lottery!