In about a third of U.S. couples, women bring in half or more of the earnings, but 71 percent of adults say it is important for a man to be able to support a family financially in order to be a good husband or partner, according to a new Pew Research poll.
By comparison, only 32 percent said it’s important for a woman to support a family in order to be a good wife or partner.
Men are especially likely to place a greater emphasis on their role as financial providers. While a nearly equal share of men and women say a man needs to be able to provide for his family to be a good husband or partner, men are less likely to say the same about women. Just a quarter of men say it is very important for a woman to be a financial provider.
As women in the U.S. have increased their labor force participation and earning power, their contributions to household incomes have grown. These trends, along with the fact that women with higher levels of education and income are more likely to marry, have boosted the economic status of married households. Today, married adults are much more likely to live in upper-income households than are non-married adults.
At the same time, income dynamics among couples have shifted. In 1980, only 13 percent of married women earned more than or about as much as their husbands. By 2000, the share had risen to 25 percent.
Today, 31 percent of women who are married or cohabiting are contributing at least half of the couple’s total earnings. About 28 percent of them earn more than their husbands or partners, and 3 percent earn about the same.
