I wrote an article about this a while back - I experimented with equality vs. letting the guy pay. And what I found - when I let men pay, they invariably expressed more interest, asked me out again, and treated me better.

However, I like coffee dates and other more casual first dates because this minimizes the risk if we don't like each other, not only on his wallet but also my time. I can skip out of a coffee date (or an ice-cream, or walk in the park) after 15-20 minutes if it's not going well.

OTOH, if it's going really well, we can go from the coffee shop to a dinner place.

JMHO!