Bringing Home the Bacon: Female Breadwinners Hide Financial Savvy Library: LIF-SOC Keywords: MARKETING MU MISSOURI GENDER INCOME BUSINESS BUYING PURCHASING Description: Many couples remember that awkward first-date moment when the bill arrived at the dinner table. Who should pick up the tab, the man or the woman? Perhaps they should split the tab? Some couples continue to experience that awkward moment, even after years of marriage.
Oct. 22, 2001
Contact: Kathy Deters Senior Information Specialist (573) 882-9144 DetersK at missouri.edu
MU RESEARCHER EXAMINES GENDER ROLES IN BUYING POWER
COLUMBIA, Mo. -- Many couples remember that awkward first-date moment when the bill arrived at the dinner table. Who should pick up the tab, the man or the woman? Perhaps they should split the tab? A researcher at the University of Missouri-Columbia has found that some couples continue to experience that awkward moment, even after years of marriage, and the issue of who receives the larger salary may make the issue even more complicated.
Wives earn higher incomes than their husbands in about 30 percent of American marriages. However, because this financial situation still is not considered normal by society, Suraj Commuri, assistant professor of marketing in the College of Business at MU, decided to examine how this difference affected couples' spending habits. Commuri recently spent two years following these types of couples through a variety of financial decisions, ranging from purchasing automobiles and groceries to relocation and childbearing.
Through his research, Commuri found that these couples make an effort to communicate to the world that the husband's lower income is not a reflection of his personal worth. Although many of the couples studied had separate bank accounts, particularly if one or both partners had been married before, they tried to hide this fact from family and friends.
Also, the husband often picked up the check in restaurants and made mortgage payments, regardless of who made more money. In some instances, wives who made more money than their husbands underplayed their financial skills and understanding of financial issues.
"These are important findings both from a business point of view and a social standpoint," Commuri said. "At the business end, we now understand how these couples make decisions and manage money. In terms of the larger social context, we also now know that living in such relationships requires a lot of emotional energy because they have to balance their reality against stereotypical social norms."
Commuri presented his research at the Association of Consumer Research Annual North American Conference on Gender, Marketing and Consumer Behavior.
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