Confession: As a conflicted breadwinner mom, I was hoping—OK, assuming—that our recent survey of breadwinner women would back up my cranky view of modern marriage, where the wife drags home the bacon, while her beta husband wipes counters and dirty faces.
Not quite.
- 60% said they enjoy being the breadwinner.
- 67% said they get enough help from their spouses/partners.
Some women say that being the breadwinner is hard on their relationships: 35% said the impact was negative; only 25% said it was positive. And 40% said there wasn’t much of an impact.
When we looked only at the responses of women who have kids (426 respondents), the percentages were almost identical. The main disparity was that 36% of women with kids at home felt that being the breadwinner was hurting their relationships; only 22% of women with kids out of the home felt that way.
It’s a small indicator, not a scientific survey. But it's still newsworthy that many couples are coping just fine, no matter whom has the fatter paycheck or picks up the kids.
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Out of the Box |
Surprise, surprise. Where do you stand on the breadwinner issue?
