Posted on 02/05/2007 7:28:59 AM PST by qam1
As education and job market patterns shift, more women are becoming breadwinners. Many husbands are fine with that.
Aaron Frazier married his college sweetheart Danielle four years ago knowing that she out-earned him by $10,000 a year. Now, that gap is even bigger.
But even though Aaron's accountant salary today is half the $90,000 his wife makes monitoring clinical drug trials, it still doesn't cause any friction.
"I think both of us are pretty modern," said Danielle, 29, of Antioch, Tenn.
"She does more cooking, and I do more housework," said Aaron, 30, adding that if they had a baby, he would start out being the primary child-care giver.
Couples such as the Fraziers — with the wife bringing home most of the bacon — are becoming increasingly common and accepted among the nation's twenty- and thirtysomethings, the result of shifting education and job market patterns, and new attitudes toward work, family and gender differences.
That could help accelerate the growth in the number of marriages in which women are the sole or primary breadwinners. Census Bureau data show that 25.3% of women in two-income marriages bring home the bigger paycheck, up from 17.8% in 1987.
Younger women, now graduating from college at higher rates than men and aggressively recruited by many employers, are becoming anything but desperate housewives. Some, like Danielle Frazier, out-earn male peers starting with their first jobs.
The salaries of college-educated women have risen much faster than those of male graduates, up 34.4% since 1979 versus 21.7% for men, according to Catalyst, a New York-based research group.
Among twenty- and thirtysomethings, more women than men have college degrees. The gap is widest among 25- to 29-year-olds, according to the Census Bureau, with 25.5% of men holding a bachelor's degree as compared with 32.2% of women.........
(Excerpt) Read more at ktla.trb.com ...
I don't know if it's a generational difference, or what to attibute it to, but if my wife earned more than me, I'm 100% sure that my life would suck.
For 16 years she was a SAHM. When she got a job outside the home, things changed, her attitude changed. It's not anything I can't deal with, but if somehow she were to out earn me... life would get very bad.
Blah, blah, blah. A feminist fantasy. With rare exceptions, every marriage I've seen where the wife was the primary bread-winner was either bad or ended in divorce.
Ping list for the discussion of the politics and social (and sometimes nostalgic) aspects that directly effects Generation Reagan / Generation-X (Those born from 1965-1981) including all the spending previous generations are doing that Gen-X and Y will end up paying for.
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Whats the big deal...My wife has informed me whats hers is hers and whats mine is hers...so you see she already makes more than me...!
The women I've known who earn more than their men have tended to think they can do anything at all that they please - and I do mean anything. The results haven't been particularly pleasant in the long run.
"She earns more, and that's OK," by John Kerry.
Prediction: Danielle will want to stay-at-home and raise the baby. If she can't, she will regret baby's time with the father.
Housework is easy as long as there are no little ones living at home.
I retired 7 years ago, just as my wife was entering the work force. Her job and income have sky rocketed and it doesn't bother me in the least. She makes more than I made in my peak years.
I do what little house work there is to do and handle finances. It works for us but maybe not for everyone.
lol. Ain't that the truth
I just don't see what the big deal is.
My wife and I do anything at all that pleases us, the key being that we would not and do not do anyting that displeases each other. I have no desire to be unfaithful to her nor she to me. We rarely disagree and when we do it's about really minor things. We have been married a really long time though, there's a lot of love and trust.
My little ones are gone from the nest so its just me and the cat,housework is a snap,love cooking,can do whatever whenever I feel like,love this retirement.
The only thing better would have been if I could have done it at about age 25.
My wife has made more than I have for about 25 out of the last 30 years. I don't have a bad job either, Director of Marketing. She retired last year as a CEO of an electronics distributor at age 49. She now does Real Estate and still makes more than me, so far.
Whatever gets us to where we want to go.
People should read Michael Crichton's Prey. If your wife makes more than you do, EVERYONE DIES! /sarc
How many marriages were those? The exceptions really aren't that rare. I've seen many marriages where the wife is the primary bread-winner. The thing is, if both spouses are bringing home some bacon, why should it matter who makes more? It's not like the husband is being a dead-beat. When it comes to parenting, the real concern is whether or not the household is stable. If the child feels he/she is comfortable with the working arrangements of the parents, then kudos.
My parents have been married for 26 years (27 this year), and my mother has been the primary bread-winner for all of them. That said, she would *never* knock my father for not making as much. She respects him for what he's done in his life, and he respects her for doing what she has to do to make ends meet. He still worked, and had a good work ethic (he's retired now, and she's soon to retire this year). I don't think I turned out badly as a result...it's not "feminism", it's life.
I don't see what the big deal is either. It's an ego thing I guess with many men - how DARE a woman be "better" than a man?
Many men still hate it when a woman "shows them up". "You're girlie" is a big insult; no such thing for girls like "you're boyey".
They're not very secure, and they're too hung up on "being manly".
Mark
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