Harvard study: Women more likely to divorce men who don't live up to the breadwinner stereotype [View all]

[davidn3600]

Research shows that couples are more likely to divorce when the man does not work full-time.

The US researchers say that while the gender stereotyping of women has relaxed, men still suffer from the expectation that they should be the breadwinner.

The finding comes from Harvard University researcher Professor Alexandra Killewald, who analysed data on the lives, marriages and finances of 6,300 couples, including 1,700 who had divorced.

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Professor Killewald said: 'While contemporary wives need not embrace the traditional homemaker role to stay married, contemporary husbands face a higher risk of divorce when they do not fulfil the stereotypical breadwinner role by being employed fulltime.

'Often when scholars or the media talk about work-family policies or work-family balance, they focus mostly on the experiences of women.

'Although much of the responsibility for negotiating that balance falls to women, my results suggest one way that expectations about gender and family roles and responsibilities affect men's lives, too: men who aren't able to sustain full-time work face heightened risk of divorce.

'Expectations of wives' homemaking may have eroded but the husband breadwinner norm persists.'

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-3710922/The-REAL-reason-modern-marriages-end-Women-likely-divorce-stay-home-dads-fail-live-breadwinner-stereotype.html