hose wife stayed home to look after the children, has changed to a family with both parents employed outside the home and with children cared for by someone other than a family member," the Bureau reported. The primary factor in the increase of dual-income families over the past 25 years has been the economy. Another interesting fact is that of the three main family units; married couples with the wife working, married couples with the wife not working, and female-headed households with no husband present, only the dual-income family group has have avoided a decrease in family income since 1970. (Cherlin, 1996)Having two wage earners affects marriages in several ways. These include the quality of the marriage between the spouses, the division of household labor, and the quality of child rearing. The quality of the marriage can be strained if either spouse has a job with unsatisfactory work conditions or if the two partners disagree on spousal employment. If the two can agree then a significant lessening in tension and conflict occur in the marriage. (Schwartz & Scott, (1994).Of course, many mothers, like many fathers, do get satisfaction from their jobs. But regardless of their feelings, few married (and fewer single) women in today's economy can base decisions about whether to work or become full-time moms primarily on their own desires; that luxury, never widely available, has become as obsolete as Ozzie and Harriet. "Having it all" no longer refers simply to middle-class women's reluctance to choose between kids and a career: In practical terms, it can also refer to families' efforts to ensure economic stability at a time when the costs of college, health insurance, childcare and home ownership have skyrocketed. "Two Careers, One Marriage," a 1998 study by the research firm Catalyst, found that of approximately 800 members of dual-income families, 84 percent of women cited increased income as a primary benefit they reap from ...
