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Men 'forking out more' for dates
26 March 2008
It may be the 21st century but traditionalist views about the dating game still remain, according to a new survey.
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Research conducted by National Savings & Investments (NS&I) revealed that men still expect to fork out more on a date than women do because both sexes still maintain the traditional dating values of Man the Provider.
Men expect to pay on average 60 per cent more than their dates, with some even prepared to go into debt to ensure they can show their lady friend a good time. It seems that many men think one of the only ways to impress a woman is to lavish her with fine dining and expensive gifts.
As Jane Austen wrote in Pride and Prejudice: "A single man in possession of a good fortune must be in want of a wife." And it seems that 21st century Britons have not moved as far away as they might like to think from the days when romance and money were inextricably intertwined.
Men expect that they will pay £52.51 on a date, while women only expect to pay £32.49 – more than £20 less. If the sparks don't fly on the first date then would-be couples won't have to fork out any more on that particular person. But if they do find love and go on a second, a third, fourth and fifth date, then the costs can soon add up. So much so that single men in the UK plan to spend more than £12 billion a year on dating, compared to just £7.5 billion women expect to fork out.
In order to impress the woman of their dreams, a quarter of men said they would spend on their credit cards, while 16 per cent would even borrow money from friends or family to finance their date. One in four men said they had set aside money specifically for future dates, but an unprepared 12 per cent said they had been caught short of money at the end of a date.
Dax Harkins, senior savings strategist at NS&I, said: "There is no doubt that dating costs a lot and many people in Britain need to think
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