Two-Thirds Of Men Think That Women Should Pay On Dates
The paper — titled "Who Pays for Dates?" — was based on survey data from 17,000 heterosexual and unmarried participants, 4,000 of whom provided written responses.
The study found that 64% of the men surveyed believe that women should pay their own way on dates, with 44% admitting that they would stop dating a woman who never paid.
Yet even though the majority of men believe women should be going Dutch, 84% of the male respondents said that they pay for most of the dating expenses.
The women surveyed seemed more conflicted. While 57% of women said they offer to pay on dates, 39% confessed that they secretly hoped the man would still pay.
But the conventions of dating can only last so long. As relationships progress, 40% of both men and women say that they begin to at least partially share dating expenses within the first month and 83% of women reported sharing expenses by six months of dating.
Researchers report that the same basic patterns were seen regardless of daters' ages, income, or education.
Co-writer of the paper and assistant professor of psychology at Chapman University David Frederick told The Huffington Post that the study was important because the initial arrangement could persist as the relationship progresses.
“The motivation for the study was to understand why some gendered practices are more resistant to change than others; for example, the acceptance of women in the workplace versus holding onto traditional notions of chivalry,” Frederick said in the study.
He added that the men who embrace chivalry — a benevolent form of sexism — may also engage in other forms of sexism, such as viewing women as subservient or reacting in a hostile manner toward women who don't conform to typical gender roles.
The results were presented in New York City at the American Sociological Association's 108th Annual Meeting this past Sunday.