The female-breadwinner well-being 'penalty

Differences by Men's (Un)employment and Country

Datos Bibliográficos

ID2235002
AutoresHelen Kowalewska (0000-0002-7991-5371, University of Bath, autor de correspondencia), Agnese Vitali (0000-0003-0029-9447, University of Trento)
Año2024
Volumen40
Número2
Páginas293-308
Fecha de publicación2024-04-01
Peer ReviewedSí
Open AccessSí
TipoARTICLE
RevistaEuropean Sociological Review (JOURNAL)
Identificadores de la revistaISSN: 0266-7215 • E-ISSN: 1468-2672
EditorialOxford University Press (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1093/esr/jcad034
OpenAlexW4380089670
IdiomaEN
Citas recibidas18
Referencias citadas49

This article examines the relationship between female breadwinning and life satisfaction in heterosexual couples. We extend previous research by treating the man's employment status as a variable that helps to explain rather than confounds this relationship, and by comparing multiple countries through regression analyses of European Social Survey data (Rounds 2-9). Results provide evidence of a female-breadwinner well-being 'penalty': men and women are less satisfied with their lives under the female-breadwinner arrangement versus the dual-earner and male-breadwinner alternatives. The penalty is marginal when the male partner is part-time employed but sizeable when he is jobless. However, there are gender differences: after controls for composition, gender-role attitudes, and partners' relative incomes, the penalty becomes negligible for women while remaining large for men. Analyses suggest these gender differences are linked to high male unemployment among female-breadwinner couples: whereas women appear roughly equally adversely affected by a male partner's unemployment as by their own, men report substantially higher well-being when she is unemployed instead of him. Country comparisons indicate that while this female-breadwinner well-being penalty is largest in more conservative contexts, especially Germany, it is fairly universal across Europe. So, even in countries where women's employment is more widespread and cultural and institutional support for the male-breadwinner model is weaker, unemployed men with breadwinner wives are not immune from the social stigma and psychological difficulties associated with their gender non-conformity

Conformity · Demographic economics · Economic growth · Economics · Gender equality · Life satisfaction · Sociology · Unemployment · Employment and Welfare Studies · Gender Studies · Gender, Labor, and Family Dynamics · Psychology · Social Psychology · Work-Family Balance Challenges