I don't want to appear sexist here. I don't want to say that women can't do certain things.
But as a woman I have seen lots of women in my life, and I have seen them achieving things and working hard and honestly things are not as rosy as they look, even if we say female empowerment and feminism. Women still find it difficult to juggle things.
I think paying for the first date is also a sign of courtesy and chivalry from the man. I'm the kind of girl who likes a man who holds the door.
I tried to think about the whole "paying for expenses".. And what I feel is that it's not that simple.
The sugar daddy phenomenon is only when she is leeching off you or using you. If she is with you only for that.
Let's say a man or a husband doesn't want to pay for everything in a marriage. He wants the woman to pay for things. Split the bill. I try to see the flip side of this. What I observe is that, of course the woman can make money by working a job. But there are downsides to women working that people hardly focus on.
Women are called the gentle sex for a reason.. Again I'm not trying to be sexist
When a woman is 22 and working, it's much different than a woman who is 38 and working. Women age quickly especially when they go through stress, emotional or physical. Women lose desire very quickly
A woman's hormonal system is designed in such a way that even little amounts of stress can make her lose herself. A woman can't be expected to be a man, because she is a woman. At the same time, you can't expect a woman to be masculine, and also retain the feminine nature in her.. When women become more and more masculine, they also become hard and bitter.
A woman who works hard to make money, is appreciated for what she does but once she comes back home from work, she will complain about headache or backache, or she will get irritated or stressed out over little things because she also has to be a mommy and take care of the kids. She begins to lose that feminine touch she had as a young woman.. She will have sex only as a routine because she will be too tired even for sex. She will not pay much attention to her husband or kids. The kids will not get enough love from her. She might fight with her husband over little things because she is unable to cope with the stress of both work and household. Because a household is generally under the care of a woman. Here she is expected to not only be a mom, be a wife, take care of the house and also make money by working. Given the demands and how a woman's body is designed this can be a bit too much.
Eventually it won't be a very happy marriage. I can understand that there are women who are perfectly fit and have great capacity for all sorts of things. But I also know that a lot of women just break down under such pressure. They divorce in such situations because they can't handle it.. I wouldn't blame them because nature hasn't designed their bodies for such a role.
The man will be very unhappy in the marriage with a woman who is not ready for sex, is too tired for it or if the sex is very mundane because she has to go to work
Women suffer stress on a much higher scale than men. That's why women also get triggered much faster than men
The woman will eventually suffer effects of aging and health problems because of overwork. There will be no happiness in the marriage. Men on the other hand don't get exhausted as quickly as women.
So let me think this way. Let me put myself in the position of a man and think that I'm a man for a second.
If I were a man, I wouldn't want my woman or wife to constantly complain about back pain and be exhausted and busy and bored all the time. I would not want her feet to look hard, or hands to look rough from work. I wouldn't want her to be stressed all the time or her yelling at the kids out of work stress.. I wouldn't want her to be buried in financial stress.
I would make all the money in the relationship. I would want her to feel relaxed and free. Of course she can work for leisure or as a hobby. But I wouldn't want her to be exhausted from all the burden. Plus I want her to be able to invest time in loving the kids and loving me. If she is engrossed in work, she won't find time either for me or the kids and I wouldn't want the marriage to suffer. I would want her to look her best every day, take her out for dinner, have great sex with her, see that she is always in a good mood. Keep her happy and stress free.
I wouldn't calculate or think that I'm spending money on her. Because the money belongs to her. She is the wife and mother.
From my cultural perspective, this would be a perfect marriage because in my culture the divorce rates are extremely low. So for me as a man, it wouldn't be such a hard thing to spend money on the woman because she is not going to divorce since such a possibility is very low. So I'm not losing anything as a man.. There is nothing to regret. Men in western countries regret divorce because it takes a lot from them financially.
But as long as your family is secure with the wife and kids, if you are paying for everything as a man, there is honestly nothing lost because all that you are doing is for your family.
If you are dating random girls from Tinder etc, it makes perfect sense why you wouldn't want to spend money the first date , because you would be dating so many, mostly for sex, so it would be a waste.
However if you look through my perspective, which means that I'm expecting a guy who is looking for a long term relationship that turns into marriage, it's a pretty serious deal and you don't casually pick someone for a date when you are looking for someone like that, you generally get friendly with them and then go out on a date with the implicit intent that you want them as a future partner, so it would make perfect sense for you to pay for the first date because you are more than eager to show your sign of commitment or serious investment
This is not about a free lunch because the girl is going to marry you.
She can throw the money back at your face if she doesn't like you or give back your ring or trinkets.
There is a difference between western dating and eastern dating.
In Eastern dating, it's more of a serious deal. It's not just casual dating several women for temporary companionship or sex. It's generally for marriage...
So whatever happens on a date is taken very seriously, especially by the woman. She is going to observe everything about the man (vice versa), because she doesn't want to marry a wrong dude.
So if a guy doesn't pay for the first date, she is obviously going to think that he is not invested.
Because he doesn't ask every available woman on a date.. He will ask only a specific woman who he is interested in marrying out on a date. You might question how would he know if he is invested or not even before a relationship. That will take time like, working with her as a colleague, being friendly with her some time, getting to know her through in general through communication.
So the date is generally fixed after the guy knows some bit about the girl..
In any case, he considers it a courtesy to pay for the date. It's a gesture that he cares for her and he would drop her home safe after the date.
In such a culture, a date is not simply meant for casual relationships, or for sex or just to try out a woman. It has much deeper implicit meaning to it.. The woman doesn't agree to the date for a free lunch. It's not that cheap. She agrees because she sees a possibility of a future husband.
The man sees the date as a possibility to impress her as much as he can so he can win her heart and she would say yes to a marriage. Paying for such a chance is only a very small price in his mind