When the Woman Makes More

[Sugarinii]

But I think its kinda built into guys to naturally wanna support the family, before there wives.

That could be just instincts (Going back to the whole hunting/gathering caveman days), or due to social conditioning. I think it's a bit of both, honestly. Some guys are bothered by it because they feel that they should be "the man" who is supposed to be taking care of the woman.

[yvonne_l_d]

Actually in hunter-gatherer societies men were not the sole bread winners. Men hunted meat, and they were honoured for it. However, women gathered the plant food that made up the majority of the diet. The men's job was, without doubt, important. But it was the women's job that was crucial to the survival of the group. That's why I feel it's more natural for women to have the choice to work outside the home if they want to.

Although, on a slightly off topic note, I don't think it's natural for either gender to work like 60 hour weeks. There's nothing wrong with doing that if it makes you happy, but sometimes people I know sort of show off about how much time they spend at work. That get's irritating.

[Xil]

Do males feel socialy awkward when it's revealed that their wives make more money than they do? Im sure, I mean, it's a pride thing. We live in a culture that equates bringing home the bacon with men, and when thats countered, it's not always going to be comfortable for a male to settle into such a setting. What I find more fascinating are relationships where you have stay-at-home fathers, it's just interesting, I have a ridiculous amount of respect for any man who can handle that.

When the question is super-imposed onto my family, it's clear that the breadwinner in the family was my mom. My mother always made more money than my father, he opened his own business and things didn't work out and we naturally relied on my Mother as primary income. I still respected my father, the fact that he didn't earn as much didn't change anything. This is a fear many men equate with the issue of having a spouse who makes a considerable amount more than them; "How will others see me?"

I found it rather interesting that we went into Hunter Gatherers. yvonne_l_d brought up a huge point that people often forget when this argument is used. Rather fascinating to think about it, women did play a vital role in those times, and still do, hell, I can't go a day without my Mom pointing out something, like say, reminding me to put pants on.

[Shoyru_Lover]

I say more power to equality. If my wife wants to bring hom ethe bacon while I go on adventure cruises... totalllly.