July 21, 2009, - 1:33 pm

Sorry, Feminists: Newsflash – Men Still Like Earning More Than Their Wives

By Debbie Schlussel
You can’t deny it, even though, during this past Presidential campaign and beyond, even many so-called conservative men claimed they wouldn’t mind it: Men don’t like being the income “also-ran” in a marriage.
In every relationship, one figure is more powerful than the other. And usually the upper hand in that balance of power lies with the breadwinner. Despite feminists’insistence otherwise–and that of supporters of a certain soon-to-be ex-Governor–it’s emasculating to be the man in a marriage in which the wife earns more. Those guys are checking their man cards at the front door, and they know it. And they don’t like it, either. (Men who say otherwise are lying.) He–or she–who holds the “purse strings,” holds the power.
It’s not just about traditional roles. It’s about nature’s wiring. And a recent study confirms this obvious, stubborn fact. Here’s an excerpt of the Wall Street Journal’s Robert Sabat in the paper’s “Work & Family Blog.” (I guess ratatouille has replaced “bacon” in his household.)

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In my family, I’m the one who brings home the ratatouille as a Wall Street Journal editor. . . .
According to a new study, this means I likely have significantly higher career satisfaction than if my wife earned the same or more than me. Pamela Tolbert, the co-author of “The Impact of Relative Earnings Among Dual-Earner Couples on Career Satisfaction and Family Satisfaction” and a professor at Cornell University’s ILR School, looked at 485 middle-class married couples in New York State between 1999 and 2002. They were all dual-earner couples–both husband and wife held full-time jobs.
Ms. Tolbert classified as “equal-earner” couples those in which both spouses contributed between 40% and 60% of total family income. Those in which the men contributed more than 60% of total family income she classified as “traditional” couples. Ms. Tolbert examined how satisfied men and women in these arrangements were with both their careers and their family lives.
It turns out, not too surprisingly, that men really do like making more than their wives. The study found that men who earn a lot more than their wives report significantly higher career satisfaction than men who earn about the same as their spouses, according to Ms. Tolbert and her co-author, Ronit Waismel-Manor of Israel’s Netanya Academic College. “Husbands feel concerned when wives make more than them,” says Ms. Tolbert. . . .
Meanwhile, women who earn the same as their husbands report significantly higher levels of career satisfaction than do women in traditional couples, but significantly lower family satisfaction.

Sadly, the liberal authors of the study try to reason their results away, claiming that this means that people hold on to “outdated” family models. But, again, it’s not about models. It’s about natural wiring. Feminism–and even an empty skirtsuit hopeful in the Republican Party–won’t change thousands of years of immutable internal instincts of hunter-gatherers who are and want to remain not just men, but masculine. Dismissing this as “old fashioned” is to ignore reality and not just nature, but science.
And those who try to defy this basic instinct are just more of what we typically refer to on this site as, “Men–the New Women.”
All of this reminds me of the world’s most famous Mr. Mom (and Mr. Grandmom) alive. Sorry, but this ain’t conservatism, and I doubt it was his dream to end up like this . . .

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12 Responses

I was taught to be the provider and protector of the woman you are with. Sometimes it is harder than other times to provide and protect but that is the role I believe a man is supposed to take. It doesn’t mean women shouldn’t have the option to work or go to college. But a man should know that he should be able to be the sole provider and protector when that time should arise.
I saw this the other day on the local news about stay at home dads.
http://www.nbcsandiego.com/health/men/Laid-Off_Men_Become_Stay-at-Home_Dads_All__National_.html

californiascreaming on July 21, 2009 at 3:15 pm

G-d created male and female–it didn’t just evolve that way, though that is the puke that is taught to most children in western societies’ public schools and universities for many years now. G-d made men and women different in more ways than in their plumbing–their roles are different (hello?)–men cannot bear children, for example.
All this to say, the more we depart from the Creator and chuck the truth of the word of G-d, the more we create all sorts of problems. The Bible assigns the primary responsibility for protector and provider to the man (I Tim 5:17 et al). Though we sinful people rebel against his laws in many ways, we still have innate (though fallen) recognition that his ways are right–so YES it is in our DNA that men should be the main breadwinners.
Sabat’s piece reminds me of the kinds of “studies” done in the last decade which “discovered” that children develop optimally in 2 parent hetero families, vs single parent or homo led families. We pay millions to study to learn what is self-evident, or should have been. One sad but true side effect of this departure is the decline of birthrates in western countries among all population groups except for the (gag) muslims and some of poorest people. Want to see some reality that will make you cry on this?–see this video–
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e0U5Kw57iv4
We have become so enlightened that family and children are no longer seen as the blessing of G-d, but rather an inconvenience in one’s personal pursuit for one’s self-defined “happiness.”

BB on July 21, 2009 at 3:36 pm

Is that first picture one of Bristol working over Levi for child support?

Worry01 on July 21, 2009 at 5:01 pm

Personally i don’t think it really matters who earns more money. As long as the pride of either spouse does not have a problem with this then it is only a sign of the times.

Chuck W on July 21, 2009 at 6:17 pm

Debbie, perhaps if the female is super cute, kind of famous and not especially well off and the male is the opposite except not bad looking, and both are right wing and Jewish, they would be complimentary. We should do an experiment.

Anonymous1 on July 21, 2009 at 6:30 pm

Doesnt the Bible tell us to remove all women from any position that puts them over men?
Let’s see, this includes all female teachers, members of congress, judges, officers in the military, my boss at work. Heck its in the bible so I guess that means we have to do it, after all it is the word of a loving, caring, sexist, racist, god

nakruh01 on July 21, 2009 at 9:26 pm

Almost forgot about all the other wonderful things the bible says of women:
Unmarried women were not allowed to leave the home of their father.
Married women were not allowed to leave the home of their husband.
They were normally restricted to roles of little or no authority.
They could not testify in court.
They could not appear in public venues.
They were not allowed to talk to strangers.
They had to be doubly veiled when they left their homes

nakruh01 on July 21, 2009 at 9:40 pm

OK nakruh01–put up or shut up. Put your prooftexts up here, because you are dead wrong on all your points–except one–that in the CHURCH assembly women are not to hold the authority over men or teach men.
You have the G-d of the Bible confused with the allah of the muslims. Nice try. You also seem to have contempt for G-d, but it is out of ignorance. I wonder if you have this ignorance/contempt because you have been misinformed or because you love your sin and abhor your accountability to the Judge of all mankind–so you want to slander him? Regardless, you ARE slandering G-d by misrepresenting his word.

BB on July 21, 2009 at 11:21 pm

I can believe that-it’s nice to want to help your family out, and I understand why they feel that way.

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