March 13, 2009
Women as breadwinners: The great American role reversal?
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NWjobs
Speaking of households being turned upside down, you probably saw Sunday's NWjobs article about men being laid off at a far more rapid rate than women. As Patrick May of the San Jose Mercury News reports, in an increasing number of households, women are being thrust into the role of main breadwinner and laid-off men are stepping into the role of househusband or stay-at-home dad.
Behold this statistic from May's article:
"Since the recession began in December 2007, more than 80 percent of those laid off have been men, thanks to their disproportionate slice of jobs in hard-hit fields such as construction and manufacturing..."
And while it's typical for more men to lose their jobs during a recession than women, May's article points out that this is the highest unemployment gender gap the country has seen during the past 25 years.
Of course, a woman serving as a primary or sole breadwinner is nothing new. The Web magazine Women's eNews recently offered this statistic: "In 2007 more than 4 million families looked to mom as the main breadwinner, double the number in 1990."
In other words, if you have yet to meet a woman who's the main source of revenue in her household, I'd say it's a safe bet you don't meet many people.
But as the San Jose Mercury News and Women's eNews point out, for some couples, woman as breadwinner and man as domestic diva is a whole new ballgame. For a man who's spent the past five years going to an office every day, suddenly having to juggle kids, laundry, and soccer schedules with a job hunt can be a bit of a shock to the system. Then again, having more time to spend with your school-age kids can also be a blessing in disguise.
If you and your significant other have recently swapped breadwinning/stay-at-home roles due to one of you getting laid off, how is it going and how are you coping? Is one of you adjusting to the new setup better than the other? What do your kids think? Did anyone get the short end of the stick? Or is everyone pulling their weight?
Michelle Goodman is the author of "My So-Called Freelance Life" and "The Anti 9-to-5 Guide." E-mail Michelle at mgoodman@nwjobs.com
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Matt Youngquist is the president of Career Horizons, a career counseling firm.
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Michelle Goodman is the author of "My So-Called Freelance Life" and "The Anti 9-to-5 Guide."
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Which will drag thge economy down further until we realize that women deserve the same pay as men for equal work.
If women could actually make what a man can and does, it would not bother my husband at all..he is likely to lose a good union job due to the downturn, nearing retirement he would love for me to make the wages and benefits he does, I am trying, but until a woman can actually get a fair chance for the same wages, looks like I might work 2 jobs for a decent paycheck...and so it goes since 1966 since I graduated from high school lots of women still don't get paid what a man does & that would be with only a high school eductation for the man and a junior college & bachelor's degree for the woman!!it hasn't changed much in over 43 years!!!!!!
I am single, but Good Morning America had a story on this today (3/16). The woman felt like she should be the mother, but instead would work up to 14 hours a day to provide for the husband and children. The man felt like he didn't have any support from her for taking on the role of "Mr. Mom." At least he didn't have any self-esteem issues about not working and was happy to do laundry, cooking, etc., and being there for his children.
I would think couples going through this type of situation will have a better sense of how the other feels should the situation ever be reversed.
Until just recently I was the bread winner Wife of the house. When my husband and I met I was making upwards of $120K a year and he was making approximately 65K not bad however was not quite what my income could offer. We had decided to have him stay at home and tutor our son to get him ready for kindergarten. Things were going great. The biggest challenge was our friends and what they thought about the living situation. He did housework thus giving me more time at the end of the day to spend with the little one. Things were great and overall we could care less what any of our friends had to say about it.
As a Recruiter my profession has been hard hit and unfortunately the outlook is not good. Until the economy makes a change for the better companies will not be hiring and thus that 120K is not in the picture for 2009. I have now been at home while he is out working. We are bringing home less and the stress of staying home, looking for work and taking on more house work is growing. Not to mention learning to budget with less than half of the income we had is a task in itself.
As to the earlier comments. I do not believe in gender wage descrimination. You can be as successful as you want to be it just depends on how hard you are willing to work to make it happen. If you are looking for higher income potential you may be in the wrong type of position. Try sales or commission based employment where the sky is the limit.
If these people can afford it ,and by afford it I mean live comfortably , not like a materialistic pig,one person should stay at home and raise the kids,whether it be the husband or wife. Not only should househusbands not be looked down on they should be commended for caring enough about their kids to see to it that somenone invest enough interest in their kidsto actually be there for them..If your kids aren't important enough to do that,then you shouldn't breed. This maxim holds true whatever the economy.
What's all the noise about unfair wages? You wear pants, don't you? Upgrade your services! Start a company! You want equality, you wear men's pants, stop fornicating, kill your babies with abortion and birth control if you really just *CAN'T* stop fornicating, and go learn to start a business. Why settle for wages when there are so many other businesses out there who need help? Find a way and stop your complaining. You've all been liberated for decades. Ambition, hard work and education does it. Stop being crybabies.
What should we train for? Nursing is obviously a good thing, what else is hot right now?
Hi Chris, healthcare and education are big ones -- you got that right!
It’s about time women were the breadwinners. I love seeing men having to take on a more traditional female role. Now we just need to put them in skirts and high heels. Then would have a role reversal.
Taylor - as a male I totally agree with you and want to see women as breadwinners and men as homemakers and I'd just love my wife to make me wear skirts, lacy underwear and high heels to make the gender role reversal complete.
Russel and Taylor, I agree with both of you - it is time for the women to wear pants and the men to wear skirts, manbags, leggings, makeup, and heels.