Female Supremacy Articles - Page 2

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The shift puts a twist on the term "purse strings." Researchers say the phenomenon is helping restructure marriage by creating mergers of complementary strengths, in which power is shared and spouses act as flexible allies who easily switch back and forth between roles. In essence, the family now has co-CEOs. "I expected to find these women lording it over their husbands," says Barbara Stanny, author of Secrets of Six-Figure Women. Stanny studied 150 women earning $100,000 or more. Nearly 70% earned more than their partners. But even though they raked in more cash--and often managed the family finances--Stanny found that most wanted interdependent relationships. "They all talked about how crucial their husbands were to success," says Stanny.

How well a couple fares depends on how successfully they share childrearing and what their pact was upon marriage. Resentment can flare if the breadwinner role was unexpectedly foisted on the wife by a layoff or sudden failure, says Breadwinner Wives and the Men They Marry author Randi Minetor. One PR executive financed her husband's new restaurant and ended up pleading her case in bankruptcy court with $960,000 of debt attached to her name. She lost the 2,200-square-foot house with the pool and her Audi A6. "I thought supporting his dream would get me to my dream--to be a stay-at-home mom," she says. Instead, she wound up a Saturn-driving single parent living in a condo with no credit.