MODERN men have got it so good. According to scientific research, women are gradually becoming more attractive in an evolutionary "beauty race".
A study, conducted by the University of Helsinki, claims beautiful women have more children than their plainer counterparts, and a higher proportion of those children are girls.
Scientists say this pattern has led to women becoming more beautiful over the generations.
Examples of beautiful celebrity mothers with equally beautiful daughters who are models include Jerry Hall, and her two daughters Elizabeth and Georgia Jagger, and Yasmin Le Bon and daughter Amber - who has recently modelled swimwear.
Men, however, have not had the same generational improvements.
The study tracked about 2000 American men and women for four decades of their lives.
Their attractiveness was assessed from photographs taken during the study, which also recorded how many children they had.
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It found attractive women had 16 per cent more, and very attractive 6 per cent more children than their less attractive counterparts.
Meanwhile, the least attractive men had 13 per cent fewer children than other men.
The findings build on a previous study which found attractive women were easier to find than handsome men because beautiful parents were more likely to have daughters.
However, psychologists believe women are becoming more attractive because they are making more of an effort with their looks and have more resources to do so.
Evolution expert, Dr Jack da Silva, from the University of Adelaide, said good-looking characteristics - like a symmetrical face - may reflect genetic quality.
"That's why we have evolved to find such features attractive," he said.
"That is, if you reproduce with an attractive partner, your children will inherit your partner's genetic quality . . . which increases your children's chances of survival and reproducing, thus the genes for beauty experience a high probability of being passed on to future generations."