Have Gen Z men entered their 'princess era'? While young women talk about having to financially support their boyfriends, there are those who simply ask to receive attention

According to an analysis published by the Financial Times, in many Western economies, young women are progressively catching up with, and in some areas surpassing, their male peers in terms of education and economic prospects. The change starts mainly from school and university: in the new generations, from Gen Z onwards, women tend to have higher levels of education than men in most developed countries, a difference that is also reflected in the labor market, to which they face with average higher qualifications. This does not mean, of course, that women are now earning more than men. The wage gap remains a reality and the male economic advantage has not disappeared. But at least for younger generations, the old assumption that, within a couple, he will almost inevitably have the highest salary begins to be less obvious.

When the woman is the couple's breadwinner, a princess boyfriend is born

Looking at it this way, this is a great achievement for women (and for society as a whole, in reality). But such a change also opens up new balances within couples. If it is no longer taken for granted that he is the one who earns the most, what happens when the woman finds herself to be the main source of income in the relationship? In most cases, probably, nothing particularly interesting: two adults will continue to contribute to shared expenses according to their means.

There are, however, those who dare to say that some men have entered their princess era. The Cut, for example, collected a series of testimonies from young women who found themselves financially supporting their partners, described as not interested in finding a job, building a career or, more simply, getting busy. In some cases, the refusal of work is even justified by reflections on communism, on dear old Marx and on a certain embarrassment towards those who take their careers too seriously. The problem is that, at the same time, these men do not even make an equivalent contribution in the division of domestic tasks or emotional burden. The woman thus finds herself performing the dual task of breadwinner - in jargon, who brings home the salary, a role traditionally associated with the male figure - and of responsible for the home and balance of the couple.

Are men also entitled to princess treatment?

Looking wider, however, it should be recognized that not all men who claim the right to princess treatment online are looking for a second mother or an ATM from which to draw. There are also those who use the expression to speak simply of reciprocity. Being courted, receivingan unexpected gift or letting yourself be offered a dinner every now and then are gestures that can be appreciated by men and women and that, moreover, reflect an approach to relationship capable of leaving behind an idea of masculinity all in one piece that is now rather anachronistic. So is there a balance? Claiming special treatment as our exclusivity, entirely at the expense of men and with an unbalanced dose of attention to our advantage, risks in a moment of falling back into the same patriarchal pattern of dependence of the woman on the man from which we are trying to get away. On the other hand, the sacrosanct search for economic and emotional independence should not even turn into bait for men ready to take advantage of it, overturning an outdated model to recreate it as it is in inverted parts. Otherwise we will have fought in vain for a tie that goes around the clock to simply return to the starting point.