Liza Mundy on 'The Richer Sex'

'The Richer Sex' by Liza Mundy
Book cover courtesy of publisher

The fact that men are doing more housework and women are breadwinners isn't such an unbelievable notion anymore. Women are expected to become the main breadwinners in America by 2030.

Liza Mundy sheds light on how this flip is affecting our culture from the bedroom to the family room and to the boardroom in her book "The Richer Sex."

Mundy spoke with NPR about her research:

She argues that the phenomenon of women out-earning their male partners cuts across race, socioeconomic class and geography. "It used to be a phenomenon of poverty," Mundy explains. "It used to be if a woman was a breadwinner, it was likely because her husband was unemployed or couldn't get a job. But it's not anymore. The fastest gains have been among upper economic demographics."

One of the driving forces behind this shift can be found on college campuses, Mundy says. Women equaled male college attendance rates starting in the 1980s and then went on to outpace them. "We are starting to see the economic rewards for women of that," she says.

Mundy joined The Daily Circuit to discuss the American shift to female breadwinners.

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