By Majd Othman

KUWAIT: A tweet went viral in Kuwait recently saying it is not acceptable for a man to allow his wife to pay for him at a restaurant, leading to a host of supporting and opposing reactions. The woman who tweeted it said she witnessed at a restaurant a woman opening her bag and paying the food bill of her husband and herself, commenting this is a shameless thing to do. The tweet is in sync with the culture of many people in Gulf, Arab and some Asian countries, where such behavior is considered unacceptable.

But with the development of societies and empowerment of women, some societal segments have normalized this issue as a partnership between a man and his wife, or between men and women in general. Many people, however, still see this as a negative trait. Tweets on this issue included comments like “shameful”, “embarrassing behavior” and “at least even if she was inviting him to dinner, she should discreetly give her husband the credit card”. Some netizens firmly agreed this is unacceptable behavior by the man, while others speculated the wife might be paying with her husband’s card.

Some people also defended the man, saying if women want their full rights, they should be equal in everything, including paying the bills. Kuwaiti public figure Ahmad Hadi opened a conversation on Twitter by starting to wonder about the reason why people consider women paying for men as a lack of manhood. He said people should stop interfering in others’ lives, as this matter is something between a husband and wife. The comments represent not only the mindset of people, but also shed light on society changing and developing over the past years, with women becoming financial partners in the house.

Many women, especially expats (due to the financial situation) share in a lot of household expenses, especially working women, as inflation and rising prices affect the husband’s financial status. Although this is a normal thing for a woman to do (if she wants to), many families still do not accept it, as they think men should be responsible for their families. Despite the spread of feminist groups calling for women’s rights in the country, the Kuwaiti society still maintains its conversative traditions.