Washington, May 30 (IANS) Mothers in the US are increasingly becoming the primary breadwinners in their families, a study has revealed.
Marking a dramatic shift in US household finances, a record 40 percent of homes with children now rely on mothers as their main or only source of income, BBC reported, citing a survey by the Pew Research Center.
Of the women supporting their families, 37 percent were married women who earned more than their husbands, while 63 percent were single mothers, the report said.
In the 1960s, just 11 percent of families were supported primarily by mothers.
According to the report, married women with a higher income than their husbands tended to be older, white and college-educated.
The married women were likely to earn much more than single mothers, who on average tended to be younger, more likely to be black or Hispanic, and less likely to have attended an institution of higher education, BBC said.
For married women, the median total family income was almost $80,000 compared to the median income of $23,000 for the families of single mothers.
The report said it was not clear if the financial crisis in the US had an effect on the trends.
But it noted that since 2007, more women have said they wanted to work full time and fewer said they would prefer not to work at all.
However, the study also found that three-quarters of adults said it was harder to raise children if their mothers worked, and half said it was harder for marriage to succeed under those circumstances.
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