Empirical Research onWomen’s Gift Giving
From both Caplow’s and Cheal’s studies discussed in Chapter 2, it a ppears
that women are the greater givers, a finding that is corroborated
by our own research. Our results show that small but consistent gender
differences exist in the percentages ofwomen and menwho report having
given presents, food, stay, and care or help to others; as to the amount of
money gifts, women and men do not differ (see Table 4.1). The average
time spent in devising and choosing a present, whether it was bought or
made at home, was about half an hour; men take nine minutes longer
than women to find the right gift. Furthermore, men more often have
the feeling that they are giving more than they receive (49% a nd 26%, respectively).
Men experience less reciprocity in their gift exchange relationships
than women do. An interesting finding is that the discontent
about the balance of giving and receiving is greatest with those categories
of respondents who report to have given the least – men, those with less
education, and elderly people. They do indeed receive less comparedwith
the other categories of respondents, but the differencewith respect towhat
they give is not necessarily greater than it is among the other categories.
In a secondary analysis of the research data, we controlled for gender
differences in income, education, and occupational level. Women keep
giving more than men, regardless of socioeconomic differences. Also
there are no differences among women themselves: women who do not
live in a traditional family situation and women who are employed give
as much as women who have children, live with a partner, and do not
have a paid job (unpublished data).