Women still hold the purse strings

Who makes household purchasing decisions in Ireland? A study by the media agency Carat suggests it still falls along traditional gender lines. Since 2013, its researchers have been examining who makes the call across a range of categories from broadband to interior decoration to cars.

Banking, according to Carat’s Pulse study, continues to be the only area where the sexes report similar levels of decision-making, with 42 per cent of men and 38 per cent of women claiming to be the sole decision maker. But men still dominate when it comes to decision-making about television and broadband providers, while women are far more likely to decide upon food purchases.

While Carat noted that the “dynamics of decision-making in the household” were “quite complex”, one tradition remains clear: men don’t tend to make decisions on family menus. Some 54 per cent of the women surveyed said they were solely responsible for meal-planning, while only 12 per cent of men said they did.

Curiously, however, 54 per cent of men said such decisions were made “jointly”, while only 37 per cent of women said they were. This is a continuation of a pattern uncovered in Carat’s 2014 study which also found that when it comes to food choices and family menus, “men feel that they are more involved than women believe them to be”.

Its research into shopper behaviour also found that 75 per cent of women said they were the main shopper in their household, while only 43 per cent of men made the same claim. Again, men were far more likely to say decisions were made “jointly”, with 47 per cent of men saying this compared to 21 per cent of women.

What could possibly be behind such a discrepancy? Perhaps women are failing to value the input of their male partners or perhaps, just possibly, men are overestimating how much of a contribution they make in the first place.

Of course, there is another potential sway on household choices: pester power. The influence of children was said to be “great” in 5 per cent of broadband provider decisions, rising to 31 per cent for snacks and treats. Even digital natives have their priorities.