Male-optimal, female-pessimal

The moral of the story regarding Stable Marriage Algorithm: In Gale-Shapely's solution (thanks Garret) women are almost always screwed in relationships. Gil and I had a debate last Tuesday regarding whether Gale-Shapely favored the female or the male. I remember my algorithms professor, Piyush Kumar, went over the proof in class last semester but I had forgotten how he did it. So I went over the proof again a few minutes ago. The algorithm SEEMS male-pessimal, but when you work out the details, you realize that women have very little say in the whole process. Here's a wikipedia entry on the subject.

The jist of the Gale-Shapely algorithm is as follows:
1.) Let there be an equal number of males and females.
2.) Each male has a preference list ranking the females that he would like to be with. Each female likewise, has a preference list for the males.
3.) The male proposes to the female who ranks highest on his preference list. If she is single, she HAS to accept.
4.) If upon asking, the female is NOT single, but prefers the man asking her out than the man she is matched with, she can leave her husband for the new guy.
5.) On the same scenario, if the female is NOT single, and prefers to be with her husband, she can stay with her husband.
6.) The male continues down his list until he is paired up.
7.) The male cannot divorce his wife. Only the female can leave her husband.

If you've noticed, the male is the only one who can propose and the female can only accept or reject his proposal. It looks like the female can reject anyone until she is paired with her optimal husband...BUT WAIT! Here's the scenario that makes Gale-Shapely a bit evil:

1.) Let's say there exists a female who is already paired with someone who is ranked pretty low on her preference list.
2.) However, the man whom she does favor over her husband is already paired up with another female.
3.) In order for her to be with the male she wants, the male had to have her ranked higher than the wife he is with.
4.) But since he doesn't (because otherwise he would have asked her out first, and she would have promptly accepted)...she is stuck with her current husband.

F***ing chauvenists...