For many decades, and perhaps centuries, men were seen as the family “breadwinners,” while women mostly stayed home. Today, these old school stereotypes are more of a thing of the past, as lots of women work outside the home and contribute to the family’s income. But a new study suggests quite a few men struggle to cope when their female partner is the one making more money.
Scientists from the University of Bath in the U.K. analyzed data on more than 42-thousand people in nine countries to see how satisfied men felt with their lives overall. And it turns out, men’s life satisfaction tends to go way down when women are the only one income earner in the relationship. The mens’ well-being is at its lowest when the woman is the breadwinner and the man is unemployed.
But if the man is the only one bringing in income, or both partners are making money, men are much more satisfied with life. Their well-being is also higher when their female partner is unemployed, as long as they’re making money. So it seems their happiness in life is tied to providing for their family financially.
- “More needs to be done to break the link between breadwinning and masculinity,” study authors explain. “Ultimately, we need to keep challenging the ingrained belief that men should be the breadwinner so that men don’t feel like failures when they can’t meet this expectation.”
Source: Study Finds
Scott's Thoughts:
- As long as the bills get paid, who cares who’s making more money in the relationship? (Some) Men, apparently!
- It doesn't matter to me as long as we share the bills and work together!
- Couples are a team. Think of it as how much WE make.