In my comment in your other piece, I mentioned how husband-wife competition in the same field likely spurs divorce. And a few days ago, the Emily Gould piece in The Cut comes out haha.
Just read it! Yeah I can imagine that sort of competition, where both partners are very ambitious, would be quite stressful regardless of whether it's the man or the woman that's doing better.
oh interesting. maybe the fact that the households where women make more are the ones that earn less overall is the main factor here. Like less total household wealth leads to strain in relationships and this is perceived as bad *especially* if the husband makes less, because they are perceived as not pulling their weight in a situation of stress
Hm, yes I think that sounds pretty plausible. I showed some Pew survey in the last post that said most people consider "ability to provide financially" as important for someone to be a "good husband" while way fewer say that's important for someone to be a "good wife". So if you're financially stressed (which generally makes relationships harder) you're more likely to see the underperforming husband as not doing his duty than in cases where the wife earns less.
Yeah, same. Also because if you earn a lot you know some of that is likely just luck based, not a sign that you’re necessarily a harder worker than him
In my comment in your other piece, I mentioned how husband-wife competition in the same field likely spurs divorce. And a few days ago, the Emily Gould piece in The Cut comes out haha.
Just read it! Yeah I can imagine that sort of competition, where both partners are very ambitious, would be quite stressful regardless of whether it's the man or the woman that's doing better.
oh interesting. maybe the fact that the households where women make more are the ones that earn less overall is the main factor here. Like less total household wealth leads to strain in relationships and this is perceived as bad *especially* if the husband makes less, because they are perceived as not pulling their weight in a situation of stress
Hm, yes I think that sounds pretty plausible. I showed some Pew survey in the last post that said most people consider "ability to provide financially" as important for someone to be a "good husband" while way fewer say that's important for someone to be a "good wife". So if you're financially stressed (which generally makes relationships harder) you're more likely to see the underperforming husband as not doing his duty than in cases where the wife earns less.
yes. If I earned good money and my husband earned less I would not care. But if we both earned little I would feel resentful of him
Yeah, same. Also because if you earn a lot you know some of that is likely just luck based, not a sign that you’re necessarily a harder worker than him
Thanks for addressing that point! Haven't had a chance to fully process but it's interesting that it was such a small effect.