GfK Surveys.com Blog

MEN OF THE WORLD are busting a long held gender myth. They are doing more of the shopping. This doesn’t mean they are loving it, though. Most of the gain is among married men who are taking some of the burden off their wives, and who may well be feeling less than empowered about the experience.

Between 2002 and 2006, the share of men worldwide who reported shopping for groceries at least weekly rose 7 percentage points, while the share of women who did so dropped 3 points, thereby narrowing the gender gap by 10 points. Both men and women are more likely than in 2002 to say they shop for things other than groceries at least monthly, but that share has grown more for men, 7 points compared with 4 points for women.

The increases have occurred in most regions of the world and for most age groups. They have occurred across income groups and regardless of parental status. One particular group of men has led the charge, however – namely, husbands. Men who are married or living with a partner are shopping for groceries and other items more frequently than they did four years ago. Singles are shopping a little more, but so are single women. And formerly partnered men – i.e., those who are divorced or widowed – are not shopping for food more than they did and shopping for other things just a little more often.

This analysis is largely based on GfK’s Roper Reports® Worldwide’s 2006 in-person survey of 31,00
consumers age 13 and older in 25 countries. For more information go to www.gfkamerica.com.

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