News
Smock says persistence of male ‘provider’ role contributes to increased divorce risk when husband lacks job
July 30, 2016
Former PSC trainee Alexandra Killewald finds that while wives working does not increase the chance of couples divorcing, husbands not working does. Pamela Smock says this is because the social concept of what makes an ideal wife has shifted much more than that of what makes an ideal husband. She says: “While women’s roles have changed markedly over the past several decades, men’s have not kept pace. In our culture to be a ‘husband’ still means being the breadwinner.”