Oh I'm sure it's not patriarchy. Just that women are taught the value of their bodies for child bearing, and trade that to significantly older men for financial stability which they "coincidentally" lack. It's all very romantic /s
That's a very distorted picture. The only bit you're right about is it's not that romantic.
The women want to have kids. They're not "trading" it to the men. The idea that women decide to become incubators for men's benefit in exchange for economic wealth is delusional.
Not least of which is that the very economic instability is actually caused by that thing:
https://www.theguardian.com/money/2015/aug/29/women-in-20s-earn-more-men-same-age-study-findsWhen aged 22-29, women earn an average of £1,111 more than men but the roles are reversed with a vengeance once 30 is hit
Uh, "coincidentally", the gender pay gap only appears at the point where women have kids. And it's "coincidentally" when this huge thing grows in them over almost a year then pops out and has to be taken care of 24/7. At this point they suddenly decide that having someone else take up the slack ... would be a good idea. I'll also point that men aren't age-constrained by the biological clock thing. So even all else being equal a woman who wants to have kids has time constraints, but she can pick from men who do not. And since she can definitely pick men with a higher earning capacity than she does (just due to seniority), even all else being equal, it would make economic sense for her to work less hours than him going forward.
So ... women who are actually doing
perfectly well financially then decide to get married to a wealthier older man and have babies for him, an act that is the actual reason they end up with said financial instability. ... None of that actually makes sense.
So, no, they didn't actually
trade anything to a man: they sacrificed their own economic independence in order to have children. Many people call something like that "having a purpose in life".
EDIT: let me note, a 29 year old woman earns more than a 29 year old man, on average (UK study and also in a large US study). If those two married each other, then it would make economic sense for the woman to go back to work, and for the man to stay home. However, that's not the decision women normally make, they definitely prefer a mate with higher income than themselves, and it's the income differential which dictates who *should* stay home in order to maximize the earning capacity of the household.