Some of the women I know were abuzz recently over a report that was just published by Pew Research Center which noted that wives have become the primary breadwinners in one out of five marriages. As part of the baby boomer workforce, many of whom graduated college in the ’70s, my friends and I applauded the strides made in the sisterhood which showed wives out-earning their spouses from 4 percent in 1970 to 22 percent in 2007 (the most recent year of available data).
That’s not to say that I hang out with a bunch of alpha-earner females. In fact, I don’t really know salary specifics within my circle of friends—most are just happy to be employed, especially in these challenging times. The point is, as women, we were glad to see that our portion of the pie had grown considerably, even though we still only earn about 78 cents on the dollar compared to our male counterparts, according to the National Organization for Women.
I remember hearing the old, “Oh, she’s just here to get her MRS degree” about some of the women I knew back in school, implying that the goal of their education was to snag a husband who could be relied on to provide for them financially. After all, the role models we had as girls (especially on TV) were typically happy homemakers more likely to be cooking the bacon, rather than bringing it home. But, the Pew Report revealed a reversal in patterns of education—a majority of the wives today are as well, or better educated than their husbands. My mother’s generation worked largely inside the home and relied on their spouses to enhance their income status. Today, most of the people I know are two-income couples whose paychecks benefit each other.
The Pew Report made a point to note that men now get an economic boost by tying the knot. A co-author of the study, Richard Fry, said, “Marriage is a different deal than it was 40 years ago.” The out-learning and out-earning factor has led to gender role reversals in both the home and workplace. For many households, the wife’s earning capacity has pulled them through our current “mancession”—more men than women are unemployed in this marketplace. The study targeted spouses 30 to 44 years of age over four decades. Today’s Americans in this age group are the first in U.S. history to include more women than men holding college degrees.
Still, I wonder how far we’ve come, especially with dialogue like the line uttered in the movie, Up In The Air, now playing in theaters. When describing the attributes of the ideal mate, one female character tells another that she wants one that “earns more money than I do.” That concept just seems so 1970s to me, because equal pay and equal education between men and women were always the goals for my generation and I hate to think that we’ve already begun to take them for granted, or—go backwards.
But back to my gal pals. As we sat around discussing the wife as the breadwinner, one friend confessed, “My husband and I have equal paychecks. I just want a spouse that can outpace me in doing loads of laundry.”
Nancy Schuman is a vice president at Lloyd Staffing, headquartered in Melville, and is the author of eight how-to books on career guidance and job-search techniques. Lloyd Staffing offers temporary, contract and full-time employment services on a regional and national basis. Send your career-related questions to [email protected].