Why would women take a menial job after marriage? I don't feel like that's the norm. Most women I know stay in the same field or even improve in their careers as they age. They don't take a step back just because they got married.

Hmmm... I have a different perspective. The women you claim didn't know their place in the dating hierarchy might have issues you're not aware of. Yes, they deserve the world--in terms of loving, supportive, healthy partnership. They just might not have the tools or personal resources to mature in ways that would attract such a partner. Instead of attributing it to their character, it's kinder to attribute it to their level of healing. Sounds like they weren't a good match, not that they were pathetic. Kindness costs nothing.

Even if a woman is high maintenance about houses or cars, it doesn't impact the other person unless we're asking that other person to pay for it. And men (or women) can say no. No one is obligating them to enter that relationship, stay in it, or financially support another person if they don't want to.

Unfortunately, many men who claim to "support" a wife are underestimating the cost of childcare, housework, and the other tasks that the wife is handling full-time. In that case, her contribution to the relationship and finances are being severely underestimated. Those women aren't freeloading. They're doing the unpaid work of mothers everywhere. Some of these women get accused of being high-maintenance simply because they don't collect a paycheck--even if the marital agreement was that one person would work so the other person could work at home caring for children/household.