Women making more, men more with kids

NEW YORK, March 27 (UPI) -- A U.S. study found that 26 percent of women earn 10 percent or more than their husbands and men are experiencing more work-family conflict than women.

"Our findings are striking and surprising," lead author Ellen Galinsky, president and co-founder of Families and Work Institute, said in a statement.

"There are many firsts in this study -- the first time that younger men and women feel the same about job advancement and the first time that there is no statistically significant difference between men and women in their views of appropriate gender roles."

The share of dual-earner family income contributed by women has risen to 44 percent, but at the same time men have increased the amount of time they spend with young children and are experiencing more work-family balance issues.

In 1992, 80 percent of men and 72 percent of women under age 29 wanted jobs with greater responsibility. Today the figure is 67 percent of men and 66 percent of women, the study said.

Forty-one percent of employees in 2008 said they believed it is better "if the man earns the money and the woman takes care of the home and children." That was down from 64 percent in 1977 but the drop is more pronounced among men -- 74 percent to 42 percent vs. 52 percent to 39 percent of women.

The report, produced by the Families and Work Institute, is at the Web site: www.familiesandwork.org.