Nearly 40 percent of mothers are now the family breadwinners
IN a trend accelerated by the recent recession and an increase in births to single mothers, nearly four in 10 families with children under the age of 18 are now headed by women who are the sole or primary breadwinners for their families, according to a report released yesterday by the Pew Research Center.
The report reveals a sweeping change in traditional gender roles and family life over a few short decades: The number of married mothers who out-earn their husbands has quadrupled, from 4 percent in 1960 to 15 percent in 2011. Single mothers, who are sole providers for their families, have tripled in number, from 7 to 25 percent in the he same period.
“The decade of the 2000s witnessed the most rapid change in the percentage of married mothers earning more than their husbands of any decade since 1960,” said Philip Cohen, a University of Maryland sociologist who studies gender and family trends. “This reflects the larger job losses experi- enced by men at the beginning of f the Great Recession. Also, some e women decided to work more hours s or seek better jobs in response to o their husbands’ job loss, potential al loss or declining wages.”
But the Pew Research report rt shows that Americans are decidedly y ambivalent about mothers who work rk outside the home. Three-fourths of those surveyed say these mothers rs make raising children harder, and nd half worry that it’s bad for marriages. es.
About half of those surveyed felt it was better if mothers stayed home with young children. In contrast, 8 percent thought it was better if fathers did. But at the same time, the report notes that other polls have found that nearly 80 percent of Americans don’t think mothers should return to a 1950s traditional middle-class housewife role.
“The public is really of two minds,” said Kim Parker, one of the report’s authors. Traditional gender roles “are a deeply ingrained set of beliefs. It will take a while for those views to catch up with the reality of the way people are living today.”
While not perfect, it’s a lifestyle that has worked for Lisa Rohrer, who works at Georgetown University Law Center, and her husband and children. She became the family breadwinner when her husband, JJ, started his own business. He became the one to pick their two kids up from school, stay home when they were sick and take charge of house duties.
“For us, it has been ideal in many ways, because it has allowed JJ to pursue his dream of starting his own business and has allowed me to take jobs that require a lot of time and travel. I’m also glad our kids see an alternative way of handling careers, marriage and kids,” she said. “On the other hand, I have a lot more sympathy for dads in families where their wives are staying at home. There is a lot of pressure when you’re the main breadwinner.”
Although the trend toward mothers who pull in the biggest part of the family income has been on the rise as more women have become educated and entered the workforce, the recession has accelerated the trend, said Sarah Jane Glynn, an analyst with the Center for American Progress.
“Part of what’s happening is that more men have been getting laid off and are having difficulty finding work,” she said, noting that the number of married wives who are sole earners has increased since 2007. “And with the way the recovery’s played out, some men who lost their jobs wound up taking others that paid less.”