The big flip

In the coming years the roles of housewife and breadwinner will be reversed. It’s already happening. 

The world economy is eliminating high-paying jobs for men and creating many exciting new positions for women. More men than ever find themselves playing Mr. Mom for women who make more money than they do.

According to author Liza Mundy, these skewed relationships are the vanguard of a worldwide movement that is reversing roles and sexual stereotypes. In her new book The Richer Sex she claims women making big bucks will have as much impact on society as the Industrial Revolution.

This phenomenon is referred to as The Big Flip and Ms Mundy uses current research to illustrate how it is happening. Right now women outnumber men on many college and university campuses and they are landing most managerial and professional jobs. In the U.S. 40 per cent of working wives earn more than their spouses.  The estimate for Canada is about 30 per cent.

At the same time the male workforce is finding it tougher to bring home a big paycheck and many traditional high-paying jobs have either been eliminated or shipped overseas.  Men are finding themselves unemployed, unskilled and unprepared for the new economy.

This trend is expected to continue and within a generation women will be supporting more households than men.  Economic trends and forecasts clearly favour the careers and fields currently dominated by women. 

You might as well get used to it dudes - women are overtaking men in today’s world economy. As a result there is a lot of confusion about traditional roles and identities. The balance of power has shifted.  

Women don’t talk much about their new earning power and in fact, they sometimes have to hide their income and their accomplishments from their recently emasculated dates. When using online dating sites many successful women lie and understate their earnings and dumb down their profiles so they don’t scare or overshadow prospective matches.

And even though she has to pick up her auto-less escort, today’s nouveau riche femme generously asks her dazzled date if he would mind taking the wheel of her expensive, luxury car. Later, when the cheque arrives, high-earning women have to find tricky ways to pay for dinner so they don’t bruise sensitive male egos with their gold credit cards.

It’s no picnic for the modern man either.   

These low-earning, underachieving drones need to adopt a new strategy to suit their new circumstances. They may have to get in touch with their feminine side and they will definitely have to take the lead in child-rearing and other domestic chores.

Today’s renaissance husband appreciates and supports the hard work of his new high earning breadwinner.  

This means keeping the kids under control and having supper ready on time.  After a long, tedious day at the office the last thing Mom needs is a bunch of screaming kids and no meal on the table. 

Men are embracing something called the “new masculinity.” It may involve taking the kids to lessons and appointments, getting the stains out of the laundry or putting a nutritious meal on the table. But in the process dads are getting to know their kids a lot better, learning how to get things whiter than white and thanks to the cooking channel and their new six-burner stove, preparing gourmet meals like an Iron Chef.

Some families have trouble adapting to this new reality.  In one case the in-laws were openly critical and called their son-in-law a loser and a slacker for choosing to stay home while his wife worked. This kind of external pressure can be hard on a marriage especially when a couple is forced by economic reality to reverse roles.

After decades of struggle women are finally beginning to achieve their goal of employment equity.  Whether by choice or circumstance, career women are collecting big paychecks and leaving domestic chores behind. However, it can be a mixed blessing.

For one thing, women express regrets about missing the family experience. For another, a growing number of working women think twice about being married at all whether they have children or not.  They already make enough money so why take a chance on a deadbeat dad? Trophy wives are prepared to hold out for trophy husbands.  

In the 1860s when women’s rights were discussed, one gentleman objected by saying, “What’s to stop women from doing what they want and going where they please?”

What’s to stop them indeed?