The breadwinner model is a paradigm of family centered on a breadwinner, "the member of a family who earns the money to support the others."^[1] Traditionally, the earner works outside the home to provide the family with income and benefits such as health insurance, while the non-earner stays at home and takes care of children and the elderly. The breadwinner model largely arose in western cultures after industrialization occurred. Before industrialization, all members of the household—including men, women, and children—contributed to the productivity of the household. Gender roles underwent a re-definition as a result of industrialization, with a split between public and private roles for men and women, which did not exist before industrialization.^[2]

Since the 1950s, social scientists and feminist theorists such as Germaine Greer have increasingly criticized the gendered division of work and care and the expectation that the breadwinner role should be fulfilled by men. Norwegian government policy has increasingly targeted men as fathers, as a tool of changing gender relations.^[3] Recent years have seen a shift in gender norms for the breadwinner role in the U.S. A 2013 Pew Research study found that women were the sole or primary breadwinners in 40% of heterosexual relationships with children.^[4]

Rise

In Britain, the breadwinner model developed among the emerging middle class towards the end of the industrial revolution in the mid-nineteenth century. Prior to this, in low-income families, a subsistence wage was paid on the basis of the individual worker's output, with all members of the family expected to contribute to the household upkeep.

There was another side to the transformation of wage relations in mid-19th-century Britain involving two closely related changes: first, a shift in the prevailing wage form, from a joint to an individual payment; and second, a shift in the predominant subsistence norm of a living wage, from a family group's income to the ideal of an adult male-breadwinner wage. This is the notion that the wage earned by a husband ought to be sufficient to support his family without his wife and young children having to work for pay.^[5]

The increase in wages among skilled labourers and lower-middle-class workers allowed for a far larger number of families to be able to support the entire family unit on one wage, and the breadwinner model became an attainable goal for a far wider proportion of society. Within this model, "The division of labour in parenting tasks can also be classified as 'caring about' (breadwinning) and 'caring for' (nurturing) children".^[6]

Advantages

In the United Kingdom, the emergence of the breadwinner norm coincided with and helped to facilitate the removal of children from the workforce.^[7] In 1821, approximately 49% of the nation's workforce was under the age of 20. Throughout the century, multiple items of legislation were written in to law limiting the age at which a child could enter work and ensuring mandatory standards of education.^[8]

Historically, families that rely on the earning power of one parent have had a lower divorce rate than families where both parents are in gainful employment.^[9] However, a lower divorce rate is not universally accepted as a positive facet of society. A primary reason women in domestic abuse situations choose not to divorce or report their spouses is economic dependence on their partner.^[10] Marriages in a breadwinner economy may last longer or be less likely to end, but this may be an effect of the economically disadvantaged partner lacking the freedom to end a bad marriage.

Disadvantages

One associated disadvantage is that 'male breadwinner regimes make women dependent within marriage cohabitation especially when they have young children'.^[11] In societies where the breadwinner model is present, it is common for the non-earner (predominantly women) to have broken career paths, providing unpaid labour to the family or working part-time. This contributes to the fact that, on average, women obtain lower levels of lifetime earnings than men.^[11] This income disparity can often lead to an increase in financial insecurity or poverty – predominantly affecting women – if the relationship collapses. Another risk that has been identified with this has been a higher exposure to domestic violence, which has been associated with the non-earner's lack of independent resources.^[11]

Since the US economy has evolved past the breadwinner economy, studies have examined the well-being of working mothers. Data spanning over 10 years showed that on average working mothers are happier than stay at home mothers, report better health and lower depression.^[12]

Decline of the male breadwinner

In 2013 the UK female employment rate reached 67.2 per cent, the highest since the Office for National Statistics' records began.^[15] As women's growing presence in the professional world has risen, as well as support for gender equality, male–female relations in the home have changed, especially the breadwinner paradigm.^[16] The breadwinner model was most prevalent during the 20-year period directly after World War II. During this time, the economy relied heavily on men to financially support the family and to provide the main source of income, typically relying on women to stay at home and look after the children and undertaking domestic work. "Women's support for gender specialisation in marriage began to decline rapidly from the late 1970s through to the mid 1980s, this was followed by an interval of stability until the mid 1990s".^[17] "As increasing proportions of women entered the paid labour market during the latter decades of the 20th century, the family model of a male breadwinner and female homemaker came under significant challenge both as a practice and an ideology".^[18]

There is now agreement in most literature that the breadwinner model, in which men take primary responsibility for earning and women for the unpaid work of care, has been substantially eroded.^[18][19][20]

The Nordic countries in particular have begun to adopt the dual-breadwinner model, with high employment rates among men and women, and a very small difference between men's and women's hours of work. With the exception of Denmark, research by the World Economic Forum has shown that all Nordic countries have closed over 80 percent of the gender gap.^[21]

Breadwinner mothers

The female breadwinner model, otherwise known as breadwinner mothers or breadwinner moms,^[22] takes place when the female provides the main source of income for the family. Recent data from the US Census stated that "40% of all households with children under the age of 18 include mothers who are either the sole or primary source of income for the family". 37%^[23] of these "Breadwinner Moms"^[22] are married mothers who have a higher income than their husbands, and 63%^[23] are single mothers.

Concerns with the decline of the breadwinner model

The decline of the breadwinner model has been accompanied by an erosion of the economic support of family members and the "distribution of time and regulation of marriage and parenthood".^[24] With two parents in the workforce, there is a risk that a job could undermine family life, consequently leading to relationship breakdown or adversely affecting original family formation.

While some evidence suggests that "women's gains on the economic front may be contributing to a decline in the formation and stability of marriages", one reason for this may be that women with greater earning and economic security have more freedom to leave abusive marriages. Another possibility could be that men are more hesitant to this change in social norms.^[25]

Global variations

The ideal of the breadwinning model varies across the globe. In Norway, a country with strong gender equality ideology, the breadwinner model is less prevalent.^[26] Second generation Pakistani immigrants living in Norway experience the effects of this equality and reinforce women's rights to paid work as opposed to the strict male centric ideologies that generations before them practiced.^[26] In the United Kingdom, women's rates of employment decline after becoming a mother, and the male breadwinning model is still constant.^[27]

In the United States during industrialization, nothing was more central to the American industrial order than the breadwinner ideal. It served to promote commerce while keeping it within proper bounds. The American Federation of Labor adopted a politics of male breadwinning. However, the North and South did not agree on this new cultural ideal and it contributed to sectional political strife.^[28]

During the COVID-19 pandemic

The COVID-19 pandemic caused a workplace transition from office to home. The majority of the world's workforce (93% in 2022) was located in countries with lockdowns.^[29] Also, in-person services like daycare and school shut down at the same time.^[30] When women, especially women from minority groups, are employed outside the home, it can be challenging to manage their time effectively. These women are already at a disadvantage, and the weakening COVID economy, which has a disproportionate impact on the hiring of racial and ethnic minorities and women, may cause them to lose hours at work and influence the breadwinning mode.^[30]

Notes

• Crompton, Rosemary (1999). Restructuring gender relations and employment: the decline of the male breadwinner. Oxford New York: Oxford University Press. ISBN 9780198296089.

Book review: Fagan, Colette (March 2001). "Restructuring gender relations and employment: the decline of the male breadwinner (review)". Work, Employment & Society. Cambridge Journals. 15 (1): 195–212. doi:10.1017/S0950017001230104. JSTOR 23747792.

• Creighton, Colin (September 1999). "The rise and decline of the 'male breadwinner family' in Britain". Cambridge Journal of Economics. Oxford Journals. 23 (5): 519–541. doi:10.1093/cje/23.5.519. JSTOR 23599633.
• Cunningham, Mick (September 2008). "Changing attitudes toward the male breadwinner, female homemaker family model: Influences of women's employment and education over the lifecourse". Social Forces. Oxford Journals. 87 (1): 299–323. doi:10.1353/sof.0.0097. JSTOR 20430858. S2CID 144490888.
• Nagla, Madhu (March 2008). "Male migration and emerging female headed families: Issues and challenges". Asian Women. Research Institute of Asian Women (RIAW). 24 (1): 1–23. doi:10.14431/aw.2008.03.24.1.1.
• Dugan, Emily (19 February 2014). "Number of women in work in Britain hits record high - but figures show the gender pay gap is growing too". The Independent. Independent Print Limited. Retrieved 30 October 2014.
• World Economic Forum (2013). Insight Report: The Global Gender Gap Report 2013 (PDF) (Report). World Economic Forum, Switzerland. p. 103. Retrieved 19 October 2014.
• Lewis, Jane (Summer 2001). "The decline of the male breadwinner model: The implications for work and care". Social Politics. Oxford Journals. 8 (2): 152–170. doi:10.1093/sp/8.2.152.
• Osawa, Mari (Winter 2006). "The vicious cycle of the 'male breadwinner' model of livelihood security". Women's Asia 21: Voices from Japan. Asia-Japan Women's Resource Center. 16 (1): 1–5. Pdf.
• Pascall, Gillian (2010), "Male breadwinner model", in Pascall, Gillian; et al. (eds.), International encyclopedia of social policy, London New York: Routledge, ISBN 9780415576949 Text.
• Sayer, Liana C.; Bianchi, Suzanne M.; Robinson, John P. (July 2004). "Are parents investing less in children? Trends in mothers' and fathers' time with children". American Journal of Sociology. The University of Chicago Press. 110 (1): 1–43. doi:10.1086/386270. JSTOR 10.1086/386270. S2CID 141718530.
• Thaler, Richard H. (1 June 2013). "Breadwinner wives and nervous husbands". The New York Times. Retrieved 18 October 2014.
• Pew Research Center (19 November 2010). The decline of marriage and rise of new families (Report). Pew Research Center. Retrieved 18 October 2014.
• Wang, Wendy; Parker, Kim; Taylor, Paul (29 May 2013). Breadwinner moms, mothers are the sole or primary provider in four-in-ten households with children: Public conflicted about the growing trend (PDF). Pew Research Center (Report). Washington, DC. Archived from the original (PDF) on 6 November 2014. Retrieved 1 November 2014.

References

See also

• Gender role
• Sociology of the family