The Worth: Gender Specific Dinner Companions

“Both Men and Women would prefer to have dinner with a Woman”

With International Women’s day approaching and Women’s History Month in March, we replicated a previous Buzz with a gender specific twist. Previously we’d assessed the price people were willing to pay to have dinner with the guest of their choice. This time the guest was chosen before willingness to pay was established and we specified a gender, with respondents either asked to select a woman, a man, or given free choice.

To assess the true value and avoid relying on people’s inaccurate self-reported evaluations of the price they would pay, we employed an advanced measurement technique called Choice Based Valuation. We found some interesting results; people were less willing to pay when restricted to a single gender than when given free choice, but more were willing to pay when allocated to a female guest than a male guest. An incredible 91% would pay £20 to dine with a guest of their choice when not restricted by gender, while 74% would pay for their chosen female guest and 67% for their chosen male guest (see Figure 1). This is known as a deadweight loss, which occurs when supply and demand are imbalanced, and results in a deficiency in the market. In this case, by imposing a restriction of gender we reduce the size of the market willing to pay because it prevents people from engaging in a purchase they would otherwise make if they had free choice or were more efficiently allocated.

In accordance with this theory, the average willingness-to-pay was higher for a female guest (£128) than a male guest (£94), but less than half the price when given free choice (£281). However, the most enthusiastic 25% would pay more for a male guest (almost £4,000) than a female guest (almost £3,500).

Interestingly, while people are more willing to pay for dinner with a woman than a man, this did not appear to be sexually motivated. We found no significant impact of the respondent’s actual gender on likelihood to purchase, so male and female respondents were as likely to pay for a guest of the opposite gender as their own gender. Results did reveal that younger people were significantly more likely to pay than older people regardless of the gender condition they were assigned to.

When asked which female guest people would like to dine with, 27% chose a friend or family member, with most choosing their mum (10%) or their spouse or partner (9%). Of those that chose a celebrity, most would like to dine with the Queen (8%), Michelle Obama (2%), Cher (2%), or Holly Willoughby (2%). Looking at the results split by the respondent’s gender, the Queen is still the most popular celebrity choice for both men (5%) and women (10%). However, women would rather dine with Beyoncé (3%) Judi Dench (3%) and Whoopi Goldberg (2%) while men would prefer to eat opposite Madonna (3%).

When asked which male guest people would like to dine with, only 16% chose a friend or family member, with females (20%) twice as likely to do so than males (10%). Of those that chose a celebrity, most would like to dine with David Attenborough (4%), Barack Obama (3%), or Stephen Fry (2%). Attenborough and Obama were the top two celebrity choices for both males (6%; 4%) and females (3%; 3%), but men would rather dine with Einstein (3%) or Hitler (2%) while women’s choices were more varied. A special mention goes to the daring woman that opted to dine with antifeminist YouTuber, Carl Benjamin!

Notably, people often pick a male companion from the sciences or politics to have dinner with, whereas for females they tend to go for a celebrity working in the arts. This likely reflects representation in the media, where the ease of which a female scientist or politician comes to mind is lower than that of a male. Although many are doing great work towards gender equality, there is a long way to go, and it is crucial more female voices are heard in more professional and academic fields.

We hope Her Majesty is feeling hungry this International Women’s Day, as there are plenty of Brits eager to dine with her! Failing that, we’d happily settle with having the Obamas round for tea while listening to Cher’s greatest hits.