Female Breadwinners value independence, not worries

By William Atkins
Wednesday, 25 November 2009 18:12

Science - Biology

In a 2009 research study performed at the University of Missouri, a U.S. researcher studied the experiences of female breadwinners and found that there are six key pluses and minuses in assuming the role of the primary income earner in the family.


In the November 2009 article “The Female Breadwinner: Phenomenological Experience and Gendered Identity in Work/Family Spaces” (doi: 10.1007/s11199-009-9714-5) within the journal Sex Roles, author Rebecca J. Meisenbach summarizes her study on FBWs, or female breadwinners, in industrialized society.

Dr. Rebecca Meisenbach, an assistant professor from the Department of Communication at the University of Missouri, Columbia, states that only small amounts of research has been done on the "experiences" of FBWs in industrialized countries, such as the United States.

She states in the abstract of her paper, “These experiences impact individual, family, and organizational decision making.”

For her study, Dr. Meisenbach studied fifteen female breadwinners, between the ages of 23 and 60 years, from the eastern and Midwestern sections of the United States “… who were recruited via electronic message boards and personal contacts.”

They were each interviewed and asked to describe their experiences as “female breadwinners.”

The results of the study are broken down into six “essential” elements of experiences: (1) opportunities for control, (1) valuing independence, (3) feeling pressure and worry, (4) valuing partner’s contributions, (5) feeling guilt and resentment, and (6) ambition and valuing career progression.

The November 24, 2009 news release “Female Breadwinners Bring Home the Bacon and Tension ” from the University of Missouri (MU) News Bureau goes into details about the experiences of female breadwinners in their non-traditional roles in U.S. society.

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