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Show 'm f1 4F The Salt Lake Tribune nr.iin '? imf vixy 'f ii ' 'rrii '"1$ q"rHrrJ '"'j "yT'''y,il Sunday, March 18, 1984 Working Wives Buying Financial Security , Household Power threaten their hus. therefore bands earnings superiority. Though the husband of a working wife respects his spouse more than a husband of a homemaker wife, Schwartz and Blumstein say, he does not want her to be too successful and take over the provider role. He becomes competitive if she begins to surpass him. "Conflict is likely to increase unless men learn how to accept their By Susan B Garland Newhouse News Service - . k WASHINGTON couples today outnumber the traditional" families made up of a breadwinner father and a homemaker mother And the salaries wives are taking home are buying more than financial security for their families Their paychecks also are buying more power over household decisions, a greater sense of and more respect from husbands But their salaries also are buying the services of divorce lawyers Though increased family income often reduces marital stress, in many cases working spouses whose family role models were their own provider fathers and housewife mothers face difficulties as new demands clash with traTwo-paychec- well-bein- without partners achievement write. threatened, they feeling No Longer Available The rules that guided earlier marriages are no longer available families. Everyto thing from division of housework becomes a to who pays for what matter of importance, and often dissension. Wives still do most of the housework. But even when their hustwo-inco- dition. It could be that employment causes stress, and stress breaks up marriages, Kristen A Moore, coauthor of an Urban Institute report e on families, said in an interview. Or, if a marriage has Economic necessity is one force behind the surge in families. gone sour anyway, the employment provides the woman with the economic independence to leave the marriage. Mass Movement of Wives Perhaps no change has had as much impact on married life as the mass movement of wives into the paid labor force. More than half of all wives are working outside the h home, compared with just after World War II, according to the Census Bureau. The percentage of working wives with children under 6 jumped to 45 percent from 12 percent in 30 years. As more wives get jobs, their contributions to household coffers are mounting, from 16 9 percent of total family income in 1974 to 20 8 percent in 1981, the Census Bureau says. Wives earned the same as or more than their husbands in nearly of couples in More than half the wives in the workforce last year were married to men whose incomes were less than $20,000 a year. The couple may receive the most attention, but the more typical is the blue-collhusband married to the pink-collwife, says Roof George berta M. Spalter-Rot- h Washington University Womens Studies Program and Policy Center. Inflation and decline in average earnings of men have made it virtually impossible for the typical male to support a family alone, says Alvin L. Schorr, professor of family and child welfare at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland. The average wife is not working for discretionary income, Schorr says. In some cases, employed wives have helped cushion the impact of ar one-fift- two-inco- one-fift- . 1981. their husbands unemployment. Between 1977 and 1981, the proportion of unemployed husbands with a working wife increased from 48 percent to 55 percent. Families in which both adults work are better off financially than families in which only the husband works. The median income of a family in 1982 was $29,377, compared with $22,976 in families where only one spouse e works. Few families live below the poverty line, and husbands in families work fewer hours of overtime and are less likely to hold a second job than families in which the male is the sole provider. two-earn- er There are growing numbers of women who would work if the child-car- e problem were solved, says Kamerman, who adds that families must many work out two or three child-car- e arrangements a day. Because families earn more, they spend more. The National Bureau of Economic Refamsearch found that ilies spend about 54 percent more famon clothing than single-earne- r ilies and 45 percent more on such items as cars, furniture and appliances. While economic hardship may force many couples to work, living the good life motivates others. of couples earning more than $20,000 a year said they were working to maintain a preferred lifestyle, including dinners out, vacations and electronic equipment, according to a survey by Allen Levis Organization consultants two-inco- dual-earn- er Three-quarte- Women Who W'ould Work Columbia University sociologist Sheila B. Kamerman says lack of adequate child care and workplace benefits that address the new needs of the family discourage more wives from working of Chicago. Whether a couple needs two salaries just to get by, or to get to the Caribbean, the extra paycheck is rewriting the roles family members play at home. The money a wife makes tips the balance of power in the household. Wisdom Appreciated Husbands cannot unquestionably assert their decision-makinability when their wives have proof that their talents and wisdom are greatly appreciated elsewhere, sociologists Philip Blumstein and Pepper Schwartz write in a new book, American Couples: Money, g Work, Sex. But tradition dies hard. Sociologists say husbands resent this loss of power, and that many women, even high earners, will defer to their husbands on important matters. A Census Bureau report says wives who earn high incomes adjust their work so that they dont earn up to their potential and bands take over some chores, dissatisfaction may continue. The kinds of tasks husbands take over are those tasks that bring her the most reward, such as caring for the children or cooking meals for company, says Laura Lein, director of the Wellesley College Center for Research on Women She doesnt feel terrific, and he doesnt feel appreciated. Women appear to be happier than their spouses with their new labor force status More men than women believe the wife should not be working, and more men express dissatisfaction with the effect her work has on the household. When a wife works, couples fight more about how the children are raised. The strains appear to be worse in those families in which the wife works out of economic necessity. The Urban Institute reports that a husbands failure to provide an adequate income may mark him as inadequate, either in his own eyes or in his wifes eyes. (Copyright) Illinois Farmers Say Mexicos Debt Is Keeping Soybean Sales From Reaching Their Potential dramatically in the last 15 years But farm leaders say the potential market is much bigger if Mexico could afford the products Farm Exports Fall The money factor is the big thing," said Orval Twenhafel, a Jackson County farmer and chair United Press International group of Illinois farmers saw firsthand in Mexico how the high value of the American dollar and foreign debt problems continue to hurt U.S. farm exports. U.S. exports of soybeans and soybean meal to Mexico have increased A man of the Illinois Soybean Program Operating Board "If they were wealthier, they would import more. But high inflation down there is the big limiting factor. the dollar, foreign debt and stiff competition from other exporters for the decline. U S. farm exports worldwide have fallen since the peak year of 1981. Economists blame the high value of The debt problem is critical in poor Latin American and African Need Credit countries, said Tom Eshleman, economist for the St. Louis-baseAmerican Soybean Association. Eshleman said Mexico recently has increased its bean and bean meal exports because of credit from the United States. Overall, U.S. farm sales to Mexico in fiscal 1983 jumped 19 percent from 1982. d Since 1968, U S soybean exports to Mexico have increased 39 fold. "They have a very serious debt problem, along with other Latin American countries, Eshleman said. They have to have credit to keep them a market for the United See Page F-Column 1 INTRODUCING the SANYO MBC 550 SERIES... a personal computer you can afford. 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