During an interview with Facebook, Emma Watson - a woman at the forefront of highlighting gender equality via her #HeForShe campaign - has spoken out about the time she suggested she pay for a date's dinner after she invited him to her favourite eatery. Seemingly it all got a bit awks. We've all been there, Emma.
It was really awkward and uncomfortable. It was not going down well. I'm sure he would say he was a feminist but he was just like, ooh, I'm not really sure about this, it's making him feel a bit tetchy... The cool thing was that we were both willing to have the conversation about why it was awkward, or why it was uncomfortable. We were able to have this dialogue. I chose the restaurant because it's my favourite restaurant. I would love to pay, but next time, you choose the place and you pay, or whatever it is... Isn't that just a nice thing to do for something else? I love having the door opened for me. I love being taken to dinner, it's so great. I think the key is: would you then mind if I opened the door for you?
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In this day and age, it should be down for the person who extended the invite to offer to pay for the meal, irrespective of gender. In her date's defence, he was probably going through the Mrs Doyle motions of "Ah, no, sure I'll pay." Or is it just the Irish way to put up some form of prolonged protestation when someone else offers to pay?
