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CNN
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Few women will be surprised to learn that even when wives earn about the same or more than their husbands, a new Pew Research Center study finds that they still spend more time on housework and child care, while their husbands spend more time on paid work and leisure.
“Even as financial contributions have become more equal in marriages, the way couples divide their time between paid work and private life remains unbalanced,” Pew noted.
So who wins what?
According to Pew, in 29% of heterosexual marriages, women and men earn about the same amount of money (about $60,000 each). “Husbands in egalitarian marriages spend about 3.5 hours more per week on leisure activities than wives. Wives in these marriages spend about 2 hours more per week on caregiving than husbands and about 2.5 hours more on housework,” the study notes.
In 55% of heterosexual marriages, men are the primary or sole breadwinner, earning an average of $96,000 compared to $30,000 for their wives.
In 16% of marriages, women earn more than their husbands as either the primary (10%) or sole (6%) breadwinners. In these marriages, women earn an average of $88,000, compared to $35,000 for their husbands.
Of all these categories, the only one in which men spend more time on housework than their wives is in the one where the wife is the sole breadwinner. And the time spent on housework each week in these marriages is divided equally between the spouses.
In any case, this is a big change from 50 years ago, when, for example, husbands were the primary breadwinners in 85% of marriages.
Today, women who are most likely to be primary or sole breadwinners may vary by age, marital status, education level, and race.
For example, Pew found that black women are “significantly more likely” than other women to earn more than their husbands. For example, 26% of black women earn more than their husbands, compared to just 17% of white women and 13% of Hispanic women.
But black women with college degrees or higher and few children at home are also among the most likely to earn about the same as their husbands.
These figures are reported in the context of society’s attitudes about who should earn more and how care should be divided between spouses.
Nearly half of Americans (48%) surveyed by Pew said their husbands preferred to earn more than their wives, while 13% said men would prefer their wives to earn about the same as them.
What do women want? Twenty-two percent of American women said most women want a husband who earns more, while 26% said most would want a man who earns about the same.
When it comes to family life, 77% of respondents said children do better when both parents are equally dedicated to their work and childcare. Only 19% said children do better when their mother focuses more on family life and their father focuses more on his work.
The Pew study draws on three data sources: income data from the U.S. Census’ Current Population Survey; data from the American Time Use Survey; and a nationally representative survey of public attitudes among 5,152 U.S. adults conducted in January.
