Here’s What Gen-Z Really Think About Who Should Pay On A Date

01 Feb 2021, by Lydia Kah-Pavlou, min. read

Gen-Z are known as the liberal generation, but is that true when it comes to relationships, or do they still favor the more traditional approach?

Well, we asked a bunch of students about their dating habits in our Student Beans Sex ‘N’ Education survey to work out what their attitudes to relationships are, and here’s what they really think.

Who should pay on a date?

Out of the students we surveyed:

43% said they’d like to take turns paying the bill on alternate dates
29% said they’d like to split the bill
17% expected their partner to pay in full
11% wanted to pay for the date in full on their own

So, when it comes to going on dates, the traditional idea of the man paying isn’t really a massive concern, and the majority of students are happy to either take turns or split the bill. No surprise really, based on how liberal Gen-Z are known to be compared to previous generations.

Interestingly, the option of taking it in turns to pay was more popular with male students, whereas splitting the bill was more popular with female students. As well as this, out of the small number who said they’d expect their partner to pay in full, the majority were female – and out of those who said they’d like to pay in full the majority were male, which is pretty predictable.

What does this say about Gen Z’s attitude towards relationships?

Overall, this shows that Gen-Z are super happy to be equal with their partner, and don’t expect just one person to put all the work in. When it comes to relationships students are more than happy to treat their partner and spend money on them when they want to, and it seems that they can expect their partner to feel the same way.

While traditional stereotypes of how relationships should work still exist and are widely debated, it seems that for students it really isn’t a big deal. It seems for them relationships are less about who pays for what, and more about going on enjoyable and memorable dates, like participating in activities or going to shows together. So there you have it, when it comes to dating you can’t put a price on good memories.