Dave – by your own statistic 1 in 4 women in 2 income households makes more than her husband… that’s a significant number. When women have income parity I think you’ll see more couples choosing based on income and career goals to have the man stay home or work part time. The world is changing.[/quote]
Yes, the world is changing. In some good ways and some bad ways.
I have no problem whatsoever with women wanting to have children on their own and not having to deal with men as support mechanisms. Quite the contrary, I say more power to ’em.
Having said that… for two reasons I think it will be a while before we see this 50/50 split between men and women where child rearing/support is concerned.
First, evolution. I’ve mentioned this several times here at the Pigg, but humans have lived amongst civilization for a teeny tiny fraction of their existence. Consequently, our genes are still largely those of hunter/gatherers. Which means that women are still largely hard wired to seek out a man that will support their desire to produce and care for children. As time passes, an increasing number of women are “overcoming” this hard wiring (for lack of a better way of putting it). But, for now, these women are still the exception.
Second, culture. When the typical guy is in high school and thinking about what he’s going to be doing in 20 years, the vast majority see themselves working and supporting a family. That is, they see financial responsibilities for a family as a fundamental expectation. May or may not turn out that way, but that’s the typical vision of the future. On the contrary, the typical girl sees herself with kids being in a marriage in which she’s taken care of by a man. Maybe she’s going to work for a while before having kids, or maybe even work while she has kids. BUT… her vision VERY rarely includes a situation where she is the primary breadwinner for most of her life and she’s essentially supporting the family. That’s simply not part of the typical girl’s vision. And that’s a cultural issue.
So, yes, increasing numbers of women are taking on the support role in families. But these situations will remain an exception until the evolutionary and cultural issues I discussed above are set aside by more women.
