With the ever burgeoning growth of malls in the region, there is but one casualty...the husband’s wallet. True, this last sentence will sound like a sexist statement, but let’s face the facts, married men, while not usually the ideal shopper, in fact they are quite the opposite, will end up paying for most of the bills. There are self sufficient women out there earning and, if they like, spending their hard earned money. But in a society where the men are expected to pay for their women’s needs and wants but women are usually not, this comes with a heavy burden on the man’s wallet.

In my many experiences going to malls, there is one thing I am sure of...the frown on the husband’s face. This is true unless he is going shopping for tools, gadgets, cars or the best gift in his mind, lingerie. They way he looks at the last one, is as a gift he will give his wife who will love it, but the gift will be for him. I have challenged my wife in many parts of the world whenever we go to a mall to show me a husband with a smile on his face. She really hates it when I do that because she knows that I am going to win.

The truth of the matter is that men look at shopping as a necessary evil unless he is buying something dear to his heart. Everything else is a just simply not necessary. “The underwear has holes in it. So what? It still functions and besides, no one will see the holes,” is how men rationalize such issues. For women, the experience of shopping is a way to connect with others, see what is happening and it also serves as practical therapy from the day to day headaches that her children and husband provide her free of charge.

Ever seen what a bachelor’s fridge looks like? How about a single woman? I can assure you that in the most, the single man’s fridge is usually bare. The single woman? It will still be full of food.

Then there is the issue of the shops themselves. They create such a fuss over their products that women are constantly looking for the next thing. Try to convince a man to buy a new pair of shoes. He will rationalize that he has a sports shoe, a dress shoe and maybe a sandal for the beach. What more does he need? The woman will think that she needs dress shoes for different occasions of different colors of different styles. As for sports shoes, she will need different ones depending on the outfit. Oh! She might also need one for sports too.

Then if you think about the number of daughters, and it’s not like the son’s needs and wants are simple anymore, and their needs and wants, you can slowly form a picture of a frown on the face of the man as he enters the mall versus that of the wife and children. For the children, a trip to a toy store in the region is guaranteed to cause two opposite feelings. The first is the sheer ecstasy of the child entering a world of pleasure with all the toys that he or she would want to have. For the father, the feeling of an impending doom looms over his head. Not only is he thinking this is a waste of his valuable time which he could be doing other more important things such as sleeping or watching football, but he is also thinking, that’s my money that the child is spending over something that the child will either destroy or get bored with pretty soon.

I know that after writing this, many will picture me as a sexist. C’est la vie. I do believe that we are wired differently as a gender. This is what makes us compatible with each other. This knowledge of our differences is what allows the shops in the mall to position their products and sell. This is what allows the economy to grow.

Funny. Every time I come out of the mall, I feel lighter. Oh! That just my wallet.