Understanding the Gender Pay Gap

A recent study conducted by the Pew Research Center found that even in marriages where wives earn the same as or more than their husbands, they still tend to spend more time on housework and caregiving, while their husbands spend more time on paid work and leisure. The study revealed that 29% of heterosexual marriages have equal financial contributions, with the husbands spending about 3.5 more hours per week on leisure activities than their wives, and wives spending around 2.5 more hours on housework. On the other hand, 55% of marriages see men as the primary or sole breadwinners, earning a median of $96,000 to their wives’ $30,000.

The study also found that in 16% of marriages, wives outearn their husbands as the primary (10%) or sole breadwinner (6%), with women earning a median of $88,000 and their husbands earning $35,000. In these marriages, men spend more time caregiving than their wives, and the time spent on household chores is evenly split between husbands and wives.

The study notes that these statistics represent a significant change from 50 years ago when husbands were the primary breadwinners in 85% of marriages. Pew’s survey also revealed that nearly half of Americans (48%) think husbands should earn more than their wives, and only 13% of men prefer their wives to earn about the same as them.

The study is based on three data sources: earnings data from the US Census Current Population Survey; data from the American Time Use Survey; and a nationally representative survey of public attitudes among 5,152 US adults conducted in January.

–Re-reported from the story originally published in https://edition.cnn.com/