By: Vincent Wu

The age old question: Is it bad to split the bill?

“Do you want to split the bill?”

Most people would say this shows disinterest in the other party. If you’re a guy and you offer to split, it means you’re not interested in the girl.

If the girl is the one offering to split the check, that also means she’s not interested in you. We can even take this a step further, and say this, if the girl offers to pay does that mean she’s interested or not? This generally means she’s not interested. Why is it that if the girl offers to pay, it means she’s not interested but if the guy pays it means he is interested?

This asymmetry is something I don’t understand but can hopefully be somewhat explained as we explore the idea of why splitting is so strongly connotated with the idea of disinterest?

Is spending money on the check a way to show affection/interest in someone? In this case, is the lack of willingness to spend money itself an admission to a lack of interest?

I believe this stems from historical inequality, not to say these inequalities are not still present. Historically, women have not been viewed as bread winners, and as such has evolved into where the man has to be the provider. As such, it would be natural for the man to be paying, to show that he can provide the girl a stable life.

Given this trend of the man paying for the date continues with time, it has become entrenched as a social norm to do so, one that has become a highly contested topic among Gen Z people on various platforms like TikTok and Instagram.

As time has passed though, and as we strive for equality, it has become more and more common for women to be the bread winner of the household.

As we strive for equality, I would also push for this standard to be reformed too. I think there should be less emphasis placed on the statement “Do you want to split the bill” and more on “I really enjoyed this, do you want to go out again?”.