Final answer:
The correct answer is option a) Women have a longer reproductive investment.
Step-by-step explanation:
When it comes to selecting a mate, females often have more to consider than males due to the often significantly higher reproductive investment that females make. This can be seen in sexual dimorphism, where differences between males and females, such as males being larger or more decorated, are a result of sexual selection. For instance, in the case of male bowerbirds, they construct intricate nests to attract females, indicating the effort males put into courtship displays. These behaviors evidence the selectiveness of females in mate choice, aiming to find mates with desirable traits that will increase offspring survival.
Females generally devote more energy to offspring production and development, as they are responsible for gestating and often caring for the young. This substantial energy and time commitment mean that females are more selective, as the cost of choosing a suboptimal mate is considerable.
Consequently, this selectiveness in females contrasts with the often less discriminant mating behavior exhibited by males, who, in many species, have more variance in reproductive success and can father multiple offspring across different mates with relatively lesser investment.