Shifting the Breadwinning Boundary

Abstract

This study examined the role of men’s breadwinner status and their gender ideologies in shifting the breadwinning boundary. Data come from a 3-wave panel survey of 522 married men in 1980, 1983, and 1988. A strong effect of men’s breadwinner status on their ideologies is foundin 1983 but notin 1988, whereas the reversed pattern holds for the impact of ideology on status. The direction of their impact on each other is consistent with the hypothesis that men with a lower breadwinner status are more likely to embrace egalitarian ideology. Similarly, egalitarian believers are more likely to engage in the equal sharing of breadwinning. The lack of a significant effect of ideology on status in 1983 and status on ideology in 1988 is largely attributable to the changing family stages of childrearing. The study suggests that, although a decline in men’s breadwinning status is likely to promote egalitarian ideology, men’s egalitarian ideology cannot effect a structural change in breadwinning without the diminution of structural constraints elsewhere.

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