Breadwinners

I recently came across a Yahoo! article regarding a cultural gender shift in the primary breadwinner between spouses.  In Liza Mundy's book, The Richer Sex: How the New Majority of Female Breadwinners Is Transforming Sex, Love and Family, she uses facts and figures from 2009 Bureau of Labor Statistics and leads with the fact that now almost 40% of all working women in the United States out-earn their husband.  Looking on the figures in the past decades, anyone can see that this is a huge leap in income for the average woman in the U.S. In not too long the average income for a working women may not be enough to be called inequality (unless that average were surpass men).  The author suggests that one reason for this outcome is because of the recent recession that has taken away many jobs that men held (more notably, manual labor); whereas women appeared to fair better with their more stable jobs.  
Mundy also suggests that, "[Men] craft a broader definition of masculinity, one that includes domestication but also more time spent on manly pursuits: hunting, fishing, and extreme fitness." Which will be just fine for women because they'll come to "accept the bread woman role." This quote is very relatable to our discussion on male masculinity and how it shapes our gender roles in society.  We talked about how masculinity for men is something that is suppose to come effortlessly, but at the same time seems to change with respect to each generation's popular culture.  With femininity seen as something naturally more resistant to change, it's not outlandish to say that women can pick up some of the men's slack and become primary breadwinners in many households.