Breadwinner

Decline of the male breadwinner

In 2013, the UK female employment rate reached 67.2 percent, the highest since the Office for National Statistics's records began. As women's presence in the professional world has grown, as has support for gender equality, male–female relations in the home have changed, especially the breadwinner paradigm. The breadwinner model was most prevalent during the 20 years directly after World War II. During this time, the economy relied heavily on men to provide the main source of income and support the family, while women typically stayed at home to look after the children and undertake domestic work. "Women's support for gender specialisation in marriage began to decline rapidly from the late 1970s through to the mid 1980s, this was followed by an interval of stability until the mid 1990s". "As increasing proportions of women entered the paid labour market during the latter decades of the 20th century, the family model of a male breadwinner and female homemaker came under significant challenge both as a practice and an ideology".