Every now and then I hear women say that men are giant babies, especially in relationships. This is true, but the problem comes when a man points out that women are also children in adult bodies, because it's okay to say mean things about men but not about women for some reason.

The reality is both men and women are children (at least most of them). A study was even done after the second world war that found that the mental age of the soldiers was no more than 14 years old. The results of the study apply to humanity as a whole, but because of the expectations society puts on men (like playing the role of the provider, not showing emotions and so on), men end up basically being the oldest children in the house. This makes sense because if you take 2 children and socially condition one of them to think he has to provide for and protect the other one, naturally the one who has to provide and protect becomes more independent and mature. So when women expect a man to pay on a date, all they are doing is expecting to be provided for, just like a child does.

So basically, while both men and women are children, because of social conditioning and expectations placed on men, they are psychologically like 14 year olds and women are like 12 or 13 year olds because they have been conditioned to want a provider (a provider of money, status, validation, entertainment and so on) and to generally always let the man make the first move, this has made men more independent and able to handle things like rejection, which a lot of women aren't able to because they are not used to it, especially in a dating context.