Does it matter who pays for dinner?
Society is working towards a world where males and females are politically, economically and socially equal. This being said, some gender-biased phrases like the expression, “You deserve to be treated like a Queen” can be still be heard by the young women of 2016. Society clings on to the ideals of romance from novels and teenage rom-coms that women wish to be swept off their feet and to be lavished with gifts and attention from their suitor. However, some feminists reject these ideas and are attempting to distance themselves from the traditional courtship presented in fairy tales and literary classics.
Picture this. You are on a date, a dinner date, whether it has gone well or not aside, who do you expect to pay the bill? If we are equal, we are splitting the bill. But chivalry dictates that a man should pay. Is this an idea set by a patriarchal society, where men control money? In the past, women did not have the opportunity to earn their own money, so the man would have to pay. But now men and women are supposedly economically equal. Nowadays, if the man insists on paying, is that a kind gesture, or does it leave you feeling like you owe him something?
The age-old tradition of all the men rising at the dinner table when a woman stands up is a thing of the past. Back in the day, if a woman rose from the dinner table, every single man at the table would also rise. Polite etiquette says chivalry. Unnecessary says the modern world. If the men are having to rise, everyone should have to rise. Or as our modern customs have dictated, no one rises. We still take our bread from the left and our glass from the right though. Apparently.
Is chivalry politeness? Or is it another trick created by the patriarchal society to repress women? I consider myself to be a feminist; I believe in equality. I am more than happy to split the bill, but if you insist on paying, that is your free choice, and do not expect anything more than profuse thanks in return. I am quite content to rise from the dinner table on my lonesome, but I would thank you kindly if you rose with me, if only to prove that you are not ignoring me, and consider me to be a valued addition to the table. I'm a feminist but I also appreciate good manners.
Emma Baker, Year 13
Picture this. You are on a date, a dinner date, whether it has gone well or not aside, who do you expect to pay the bill? If we are equal, we are splitting the bill. But chivalry dictates that a man should pay. Is this an idea set by a patriarchal society, where men control money? In the past, women did not have the opportunity to earn their own money, so the man would have to pay. But now men and women are supposedly economically equal. Nowadays, if the man insists on paying, is that a kind gesture, or does it leave you feeling like you owe him something?
The age-old tradition of all the men rising at the dinner table when a woman stands up is a thing of the past. Back in the day, if a woman rose from the dinner table, every single man at the table would also rise. Polite etiquette says chivalry. Unnecessary says the modern world. If the men are having to rise, everyone should have to rise. Or as our modern customs have dictated, no one rises. We still take our bread from the left and our glass from the right though. Apparently.
Is chivalry politeness? Or is it another trick created by the patriarchal society to repress women? I consider myself to be a feminist; I believe in equality. I am more than happy to split the bill, but if you insist on paying, that is your free choice, and do not expect anything more than profuse thanks in return. I am quite content to rise from the dinner table on my lonesome, but I would thank you kindly if you rose with me, if only to prove that you are not ignoring me, and consider me to be a valued addition to the table. I'm a feminist but I also appreciate good manners.
Emma Baker, Year 13