Is the Ever-Changing Role of Women Affecting Marriages?

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Is the ever-changing role of women affecting marriages?
It used to be normal for a little girl to have the 1950’s housewife fantasy in her head because it is all she knew (Loh). She wants to grow up and marry a rich man who will kiss her on the cheek each morning as he heads out the door to his office. She then cleans the kitchen, makes lunch for the kids, gets the children off to school and the rest of the day is filled with laundry and chores. Dinner is on the table when her husband returns. She does this day after day, just like every female ancestor before her (Roberts).
Then came the women’s suffrage movement when women wanted jobs and equal pay as men as well as the right to vote. Women became more than the housewife and the child bearer. She became and equal member of society bearing the same economical burden as men. Women started going to colleges and universities later joining the work force in positions once held only by men. Fast forward with me now. Today there are more female college graduates than males. According to a report done by the PEW Research Center in over 1/3 of marriages woman have gained more education than their spouse (Parker-pope).
More and more wives are making more money than their husbands. In an article published in the New York Times the question is brought up, “Does a man feel threatened by his wife’s success?” (Biddle) According to a study done by the Pew Research Center in 2007 20% of women were making more than their spouse compared to 4% in the 1970’s. As of 2009 half of the work force consisted of women (Fry). Women are truly becoming equal to men in almost all aspects of society. Andrea Doucet, a sociology professor at Carleton University in Ottawa “With women taking on more earning and...

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...0/01/19/women-men-and-the-new-economics-of-marriage/>.

Morin, Richard, and Megan Rosenfeld. "With More Equity, More Sweat." Washington Post. The Washington Post, 2 Mar. 1998. Web. 5 May 2014. .

Biddle, Tabby. "How Changing Gender Roles Are Affecting Marriages." The Huffington Post. TheHuffingtonPost.com, 29 Jan. 2010. Web. 5 May 2014. .

Loh, Sandra. "My So-Called Wife." The New York Times. The New York Times, 23 Jan. 2010. Web. 5 May 2014. .

Roberts, Sam. "More Men Marrying Better Educated, Wealthier Wives." The New York Times. The New York Times, 18 Jan. 2010. Web. 5 May 2014. .

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