Goldman Sachs: The millennial parent is a 'mom'
It's goal is to examine the habits and spending implications of today's young adults.
But, just the moms? Well, a note on page three clarifies:
"Note - throughout this report, we make references to 'Millennial Moms', a term we use interchangeably with Millennial parents."
Perhaps they do actually mean Millennial parents, although why not then use the gender-neutral word throughout the report? Instead, moms and parents are indeed used interchangeably, with 70 references to "mom," and 131 references to "parent." There are zero references to "dad" in the report.
What this really tells us is that Goldman is probably assuming that the majority of the parenting decisions are going to be taken by the mother. In single-mother households, about a quarter of all households with children, this is probably the case. But for three-quarters of millennial families, dads should be a factor, too. The idea that the housewife makes most of the family's consumption decisions is several decades outdated.
And yet, we can only assume that Goldman is implying that the majority of decisions in the household are still being made by mom.
Let's just hope that Goldman is wrong.