[MarkJ]

Changing the face of marriage and work: Breadwinners wear lipstick

If you think women still reap more economic benefit than men do from marriage, you may be living in the past. Using census data from 1970 and 2007 to compare U.S.-born married people ages 30 to 44, the Pew Research Center finds the economic gains associated with marriage are now greater for men than women.

The report found:
• More women than men today have college degrees, census data show. In 1970, 64 percent of college graduates were men, 36 percent women; in 2007, 53.5 percent were women, 46.5 percent men.
• Women's earnings grew 44 percent from 1970 to 2007, compared with 6 percent growth for men. Even though men, on average, still make more, women's sharper gains have narrowed the disparity.
• Only 4 percent of husbands had wives who earned more than they did in 1970, compared with 22 percent in 2007.

The Pew researchers also said the economic downturn is reinforcing the gender-reversal trends, with men losing jobs more often than women. "Marriage is a different deal than it was 40 years ago," says Richard Fry, a co-author of the study. "Typically, most wives did not work, so for economic well-being, marriage penalized guys with more mouths to feed but no extra income. Now most wives work. For guys, the economics of marriage have become much more beneficial."

Coontz has been struck by the dramatic loss of manufacturing jobs that in the past had enabled men without college education to earn enough money to raise a family. The loss of those jobs, said Coontz, "is something no feminist would take pleasure in."

Yet she said the data also reflect the fact that many husbands no longer feel compelled to be the sole bread- winner and are embracing a bigger share of household responsibilities.

"If it weren't for the gains of the women's movement, which have produced a steady equalization of women's wages and new incentives for women to get more education . . . most families would have stagnated in their living standards even before the recession," Coontz said. link

Locally, we see many wives and daughters that are the breadwinners since the husbands are unemployed or under-employed manufacturing workers, or low skilled construction workers.

Many of the wives and daughters work in the local healthcare industry, but the husbands refuse to train for, or take jobs in this industry.

[Roy]

but the husbands refuse to train for, or take jobs in this industry.

Here, it seems like just about everyone I talk to who has lost their job or is in danger of it, is going back to school for some sort of nursing or physical therapy degree.

This reminds me of the mad rush into IT back in the late 90's, and certification bootcamps. When the initial wave of people passed through the training programs that had sprung up for the 'information economy', all of the sudden you had a huge pool of people available to work, which in turn depressed wages in that field to some degree.

WRT to healthcare: a 2 year degree in Physical Therapy Assistant, around here, will pull down $50K plus, and there are lots of job openings. That's well above the median income here.

But when there are 35 PT assistants applying for every job, what do you think the new wage structure will look like?

Everyone who's lost their job in this Recovery (shout out to OF2 and SOS) can't be a nurse or a physical therapy assistant, can they?

[Ainan]

The West is finished. You can't keep an economy going on nursing, healthcare in America is paid for by China along with everything else. Sorry, I'm preaching to the converted.

Here is a great essay on feminism and its impact upon the economy. Should take you an hour or two to read but it's worth it.

[Novus]

The West is finished. You can't keep an economy going on nursing, healthcare in America is paid for by China along with everything else. Sorry, I'm preaching to the converted.

Here is a great essay on feminism and its impact upon the economy. Should take you an hour or two to read but it's worth it.

Incredible article thanks for sharing. The Misandry bubble is already here.

[Ludi]

The Misandry bubble is already here.

Our society hates men!

[Ainan]

The Misandry bubble is already here.

Our society hates men!

It does Ludi, I'd strongly recommend you read the essay.

Society still likes goats though.

[Ludi]

It does Ludi, I'd strongly recommend you read the essay.:

I'm pretty sure our society hates people in general. Except possibly the rich.

[gt1370a]

I'm pretty sure our society hates people in general. Except possibly the rich.

Yeah, it's amazing how much resentment there is between men and women. I have always thought that the courts were way too biased towards women and there are a lot of activist judges that lean too much in favor of women in divorces for example. Then I followed a few of those links from the article, and found one where a bunch of the comments were single moms complaining about activist judges who protected deadbeat dads too much. I guess maybe it goes both ways. Or it doesn't go either way. Everybody is a freakin victim.

[Novus]

Ludi you really should read the article as it ties in nicely with video on Human livestock management. (note to those who have not read the article it is not for the uninitiated. Watch the video first.)

Feminism as a cooperative of statism is a failed form of human livestock management as it disincentivises men from being productive worker bees. A man can support himself on just a few months of working a year or working a few hours every day. What compels a man to break his back every day at a job he hates? The answer is wife and kids but with Feminazis undermining the traditional family the men of society will soon stop their nest building behavior and only work minimal amounts at best. At worst the men of our society revert to violence and become a net drain on society.

Feminism is heading for its Apocalypse though. Just one xample in England the British government opened Sharia courts to appease the Islamic minorities. The result was something totally unexpected. White Christian British men started converting to Islam to divorce their wives in Sharia court rather than Feminazi controlled British courts. I wonder what the Catholic Church was thinking when they failed to grant Henry the VIII a divorce. He made his own church called the Anglican Church to grant him that very divorce. History repeating itself in grand fashion.

[Ludi]

I don't think any gender should be "productive worker bees." But I mainly see scared white men bitching about anyone else getting a piece of the pie they have had for so long.

[kublikhan]

Breadwinners wear lipstick

Only 4 percent of husbands had wives who earned more than they did in 1970, compared with 22 percent in 2007.

So 78% of households have breadwinners that are men, yet the breadwinners are wearing lipstick. Are these men going out in drag or what?

[SeaGypsy]

Maybe the proliferation of women in health care has something to do with their relative longsightedness compared to men, rather than other notions?
I know plenty of men who were computer techies in the 80's, engineers in the 90's now working in mines doing such inglorious things as dump truck driving, after 8+ years of study. Compare this to a nursing graduate in the 80's who has always been able to get a job, almost anywhere in the world. Of course most of these are women, the time off often invested in child rearing, which seems more productive than studying for jobs which evaporate as globalism overwhelms male domains of productivity/

[aldente]

Contemporary society does not hate men, it rather stumbles over the good old monetary distribution schemes over and over again.

The leak that sinks our "societal Titanic" is found in motherhood. Since motherhood is not equipped with any fom or financial rewards, while any other job has at least a minimum wage clause built in, desaster is pre-programmed.

Why should there be a financial reward tag attached to the job of a Henry Paulson for instance, while a regular average mother coulnd't care less about big coins during the initial sleep deprivation period, rasing a newborn.

The youngster Peak Oiler would argue - f-em all anyway, let's pull a Savinar and call it the shots...Conclusion a la Monte, dieoff is the answer, since inevitable. Let's sink into the rabbit hole pre-mature.

The advanced Peak Oiler on the other hand recoginzes that as long as the party goes on, there might be beer to be located somewhere, which is a valid reason to keep on going.

[Ludi]

Are these men going out in drag or what?

It's a living, I guess.

[MarkJ]

but the husbands refuse to train for, or take jobs in this industry.

Here, it seems like just about everyone I talk to who has lost their job or is in danger of it, is going back to school for some sort of nursing or physical therapy degree.

Locally, the unemployed and under-employed male manufacturing workers tend to transition into unskilled or low skilled jobs with little or no training requirements such as warehouse workers, fork lift operators, local trucking/delivery drivers, low skilled construction jobs, low skilled maintenance jobs, janitors, floor cleaners etc.


Many of them work in healthcare support jobs such as maintenance, drivers, janitors, food prep etc. Our largest employers are businesses that care for disabled and retarded clients in commercial facilities and group homes. Many former manufacturing workers take jobs as drivers, maintenance workers or direct care group home workers for these businesses. Pay isn't the greatest, but work is steady, benefits are excellent and working conditions are good.

We lose many of our best warehouse workers to the low skilled health care and retarded care industries.

[SeaGypsy]

I am male and have had about 50 different jobs so far; from windscreen fitter to brewer to glass blower; I went in to an apprenticeship in aged care nursing for the job security and conditions. Hence I am part of less than 10% male staff in this industry in Australia. It's actually a very enjoyable job (once you figure out how to deal with all the female colleagues & managers!).

[galacticsurfer]

Due to the downturn here in Germany I lost my job, now a second job, in import export industry. My brother in law lost his factory job. So it is all industrial related althoiugh I sit a t a desk and he was on the assembly line. Anyway, my wife was doing mostly nursing in Russia and last couple of years before she had kids (11 years ago), she was working in a nursing home. I send out a lot aof job applications and am going to do soem traingin courses to catch up on new software but basically my chances are relatively low to climb back in at 44 years of age in a shrinking industry. My wife however has no problem in care industry. Who wants to wipe crap off a 90 year old's butt all day and do terrible shift hours? She doesn't either and would prefer a normal hospital environemnt. Anyway I joke to her if there are no other jobs then I will have to get retrained into a caregiver. The competition for desk jobs has dropped the salaries down to the same level almost anyway and the competion is heavily female so no difference really.

Problem with my wife taking over as main breadwinner is that she has built up a lot of knowledge in housework routine and helping the kids with homework and dealing with teachers and similar, which I can't jjust pick up over night without her freaking out. So if I don't cook and iron and wash clothes just right, etc. while she is at work then she freaks out. I think lots of women are much more exact than men about their work and this makes it difficult to switch roles quickly as they take it all very seriously.

[MarkJ]

I worked a couple different jobs in healthcare facilities years ago. The greatest challenge was resisting temptation since so many of the female workers were big time flirts and they looked hot in their nurses uniforms. As an Alpha Male, I was like a kid in a candy shop.

This is another major issue since many wives and girlfriends don't want their husbands or boyfriends working in facilities with 80 percent plus females.

[SeaGypsy]

The "I can't wipe bums all day" argument is the main one I hear from men why they wouldn't do this job.
The fact is that it might be that 2 or 3 bums a day need wiping. How long does this take? Perhaps 1 minute per bum; certainly not "wiping bums all day". To these men I ask "Are you ok with wiping your own bum? How about your young children?"

[JJ]

The "I can't wipe bums all day" argument is the main one I hear from men why they wouldn't do this job.
The fact is that it might be that 2 or 3 bums a day need wiping. How long does this take? Perhaps 1 minute per bum; certainly not "wiping bums all day". To these men I ask "Are you ok with wiping your own bum? How about your young children?"

having worked five years as a CNA in nursing homes and hospice, I will be the first to say that nurses very rarely "wipe bums". They call a CNA to do it.