The idea of the man being the main breadwinner in a relationship is shifting. According to research by the Centre for Social Justice, young women aged 16 to 24 in full-time work now earn an average of £2,200 more per year than men in the same age group, with women earning an average salary of £26,500, compared with £24,300 for young men.
The change is playing out online, too. A viral essay by The Cut, and videos on TikTok, suggest that more women are “bankrolling” their boyfriends, and in some videos, young men are referring to their girlfriends as their “mummies” or calling themselves “sugar babies”. While much of the content may be a joke, it’s sparked a wider conversation about whether more Gen Z women are becoming the financial providers in their relationships.
One woman tells me that she felt like the mother of her ex boyfriend, who was in his thirties. “I was hardly earning loads, but he’d spend all his money on pints, and then get me to lend him a tenner to get the train. He regularly asked me for a bit of money for this, a bit for this. He was trying to make it as a writer, but also didn’t do much writing. He mostly went out and got hammered, and also high. He did have a day job, but the money just disappeared,” she says.
