Finding "Modern Cinderella"

Found in nearly all cultures throughout the world, Cinderella has not only been favored by storytellers and listeners for centuries, but also appealed to scholars from various backgrounds. The universality of the story reveals women's passivity and dependency in a male-dominated society—a poor girl goes through her socialization and gets rid of her miserable life through marrying a wealthy and powerful man. Although it sounds pathetic to feminists, the archetype of Cinderella has won success for numerous literary works, movies and TV shows, and it is embodied by Cinderella in real life. Its popularity in turn shows that women prefer men of higher socioeconomic status, and enjoy being taken care of by men.Studies on love, romantic relationship, mate selection, marriage also show that women look for economic potential in their partners more than men do; studies on gender roles show that women usually stay at home and take care of the family. Although these seem to have strengthened the archetype of Cinderella, the modern society also witnessed changes in women's status and gender roles.The present study tries to build the gap between the studies of Cinderella and studies of love and marriage through a survey on 135 female Chinese college students. Some of these college students'outlooks on love and marriage do fit in the archetype of Cinderella, but they also show a strong approval of women's economic independence, place an importance on establishing their own career, and would like husband to help deal with household chores. The most influential factors that may shape Cinderella types of outlooks include their identity of being an undergraduate/ graduate student, their financial source and consumption style.