UK: who wears the purchasing trousers, and when?

The admittedly old-fashioned question of who wears the trousers in a relationship can be answered with a number of aspects in mind. One way of assessing it though, would be by looking at who controls the purse strings. As new data from the Statista Global Consumer Survey 2018 shows, this answer can vary based on the kind of products you're talking about.

When UK adults were asked in which categories they personally make the purchasing decisions, some clear splits between men and women emerged. Somewhat confirming traditional stereotypes, the largest gaps were evident in clothing and in vehicles. A total of 91 percent of women said they make their own purchase decisions for clothing, shoes and accessories - compared to just 73 percent of men, making a difference of 18 percentage points. For cars, motorbikes and bicycles, men are apparently more often in the driving seat with 58 percent of men and 42 percent of women saying they make the decision to buy, themselves.

Note: 35 percent of respondents said they were either single/unmarried or divorced/widowed at the time of survey. The results are therefore not completely representative of relationship dynamics, but rather gender differences generally.