First Fortune's 'Trophy Husbands' ... now this: Newsweek has Rebel Dads (and Moms) on its cover this week. (Full disclosure: Rebel Dad was contacted for this story, so I may be biased toward the nice folks who put it together.)
Whenever a magazine with circulation figures in the multi-millions decides to promote your social trend, it's an unambigiously good thing. So I'm upbeat, even if the lead anecdote ends with at-home-dad-(not-by-choice) Jonathan Earp declaring "I hate it all." Ouch.
Still everyone else seems pretty happy with the deal, even if life doesn't always treat them fair. A nice touch: there a nice-sized focus on the women in the story, who don't usually get mention in at-home dad stories. It ain't easy to buck society and be a househusband, but women who leave everyone else at home have their own battles to fight with society. The story certainly makes that point.
And as for Rebel Dad StatWatch, the Newsweek team provides some good ones: 30.7 percent of married women outearn their husband (Libby Gill has pegged the number at about 40 percent, also without attribution). And the mag says about 11 percent are Alpha Earners, women who make a lot more than their hubbies. (University of Maryland demographer Suzanne Bianchi.)
There's not an effort to count at-home dads -- which has generally been a fools game -- instead mentioning the percentage of mom-working, dad-at-home families and then dismissing the number as meaningless. No objection there -- it's better than plucking an old or questionable number just for impact's sake.
And Newsweek did some polling, too, showing that the Rebel Dad lifestyle is indeed seen by millions of people as rebellious: "In the NEWSWEEK Poll, 41 percent of Americans agreed that 'it is much better for everyone involved if the man is the achiever outside the home and the woman takes care of the home and family.' One in four said it was 'generally not acceptable' for a woman to be the major wage earner in a marriage."
Gasp. Forty-one percent. You say you want a revolution?
Whenever a magazine with circulation figures in the multi-millions decides to promote your social trend, it's an unambigiously good thing. So I'm upbeat, even if the lead anecdote ends with at-home-dad-(not-by-choice) Jonathan Earp declaring "I hate it all." Ouch.
Still everyone else seems pretty happy with the deal, even if life doesn't always treat them fair. A nice touch: there a nice-sized focus on the women in the story, who don't usually get mention in at-home dad stories. It ain't easy to buck society and be a househusband, but women who leave everyone else at home have their own battles to fight with society. The story certainly makes that point.
And as for Rebel Dad StatWatch, the Newsweek team provides some good ones: 30.7 percent of married women outearn their husband (Libby Gill has pegged the number at about 40 percent, also without attribution). And the mag says about 11 percent are Alpha Earners, women who make a lot more than their hubbies. (University of Maryland demographer Suzanne Bianchi.)
There's not an effort to count at-home dads -- which has generally been a fools game -- instead mentioning the percentage of mom-working, dad-at-home families and then dismissing the number as meaningless. No objection there -- it's better than plucking an old or questionable number just for impact's sake.
And Newsweek did some polling, too, showing that the Rebel Dad lifestyle is indeed seen by millions of people as rebellious: "In the NEWSWEEK Poll, 41 percent of Americans agreed that 'it is much better for everyone involved if the man is the achiever outside the home and the woman takes care of the home and family.' One in four said it was 'generally not acceptable' for a woman to be the major wage earner in a marriage."
Gasp. Forty-one percent. You say you want a revolution?
posted by Rebel Dad at
12:09 PM
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