51: The Romance Gap

I am sure you have heard of the gender pay gap and gender equality but have you heard of the Romance Gap? It’s like the pay gap but for your love life! The dating app bumble commissioned a survey with interesting results. They found that 86% believed that equality was important in dating and relationships. However, 74% of respondents said there were different expectations and expected behaviour depending on your gender when it comes to relationships. They found that traditional gender roles and expectations are still very present, and even, accepted in dating. In fact, they found that some of the actions we feel are romantic for men are seen as negative/bad when women do them. For example, it is seen as passionate when a man says he loves you after a month but needy if a woman does the same. When a guy doesn’t text, he is seen as playing it cool but when a woman doesn’t text back she is playing hard to get. In this week’s podcast, I discuss what they found and what the solution is.