Mothers are top breadwinners in 4 in 10 American households, study finds

A new study has found that in almost 40 percent of American households with children under 18, the top income earner is the mother.

The study done by the Pew Research Center and released today, shows that the number of married mothers making more than their husbands have quadrupled over the past few decades, reports The Washington Post.

For all households with children, the number of those with a married mother earning more than the father jumped from just 4 percent in 1960 to 15 percent in 2011. The number of single moms jumped from 7 to 25 percent over the same period.

According to the Associated Press, the poll also showed that 79 percent of Americans agree that women should not be pushed back into traditional roles. But it also showed that only 21 percent think the trend is a good thing. Around 3 in 4 say that it makes raising children harder when the mother is out of the house.

“This change is just another milestone in the dramatic transformation we have seen in family structure and family dynamics over the past 50 years or so," Kim Parker, associate director with the Pew Social & Demographic Trends Project, told the AP. “Women's roles have changed, marriage rates have declined -- the family looks a lot different than it used to. The rise of breadwinner moms highlights the fact that, not only are more mothers balancing work and family these days, but the economic contributions mothers are making to their households have grown immensely.”

Pew also looked at education, finding that 23 percent of mothers are at a higher education level than their husbands, while only 16 percent of fathers are higher educated. Still, 61 percent of households have both parents at a similar education level.

Also, the number of Americans who believe it is better for the men to earn more dropped to 30 percent, a 10 point drop from 1997.

WordPress › Error

There has been a critical error on your website.

Learn more about debugging in WordPress.