A couple of things.
As the mother of two daughters–one single and one married–I would NOT want to see my single daughter (who is 35 and has been on her own since she was 19) struggling to survive on a “ladies’ Income” while her married male co-workers brought home bigger incomes.
I think wages should be paid for the job done. That’s one reason I’m against an increase in minimum wage–the wage is appropriate for the job done.
Another thought–will one of the partners in a same-sex marriage be paid more than the other individual? Not likely!
Finally–we’re not going to go back in time. What needs to happen is that parents need to educate their boys from birth that they need to choose a life work that will enable them to adequately support a wife and children. That doesn’t have to mean college and a huge loan debt. My brother went to a two-year trade school and has worked as a welder for over thirty years. From the beginning, his salary was more than mine, and I graduated from college and a hospital internship and passed a registry exam! There are plenty of skilled trades for men who prefer an “active” job rather than a “desk” job."
There are also jobs in sales that don’t necessarily require a college education, but a love of selling and an ability to do so.
And there’s the military, which gives all kinds of benefits to those who serve. The housing loans and health care (it’s not all scandalous and horrible) are pretty good.
And there is the option that many of our 1950s/1960s father took back then–they worked at TWO jobs to support their family. All my life, my father worked as a pipe-fitter for 8 hours plus mandatory overtime (factories were booming then!), and then he would take off for his parents’ farm, where he would work for another 8 hours. And on weekends, he took on free-lance building jobs, mainly plumbing (back when there was no requirement to use a specially-trained plumber), and other odd jobs. AND when I was a teenager, he and my mother started dealing in antiques, mainly furniture, and they would go to sales and auctions and buy and sell. AND–he had a side business of copper wire–he would buy old air conditioners and other things that had copper wire, take them apart, and find the copper wire–it’s still worth money and we still see people driving up and down the street looking for “junk” that has copper wire.
And…although we had what we needed, we didn’t live extravagantly.The very idea of a walk-in closet would have been laughable back then!
And our pleasures and recreations were home-centered–television shows, tossing a softball around, fishing with cane poles, listening to records, playing with toys.
I did take piano lessons, but I actually had my first job in 7th grade playing for a church. So it was a useful investment, not just a fun thing for me to do.
BTW, my dad had an 8th grade education (he finished his high school GED when he was in the Army). My mother had an 8th grade education.
I believe that men CAN support a family, but they have to be trained to work hard and go with a career that matches their abilities and they might have to work two or more jobs.
