Breadwinner wives more likely to cheat?

[hiki]

Here's an interesting question for the likes of Custer Mac and Doc.
It seems that the increasing independence of married women is
leading to increasing female infidelity. What about the more extreme
ends of such independence, where the husband takes the role of the
homemaker and the wife becomes the breadwinner. Is this subset of
females even more prone to infidelity? Is there any data to support
this?

-Hiki

 

[MacNfries]

Absolutely, hiki ... you and others might wish to read the new book by Hanna Rosin called "End Of Man And The Rise Of Women". It basically discusses everything from education, sex, female dominated marriage, the changing jobs markets, dating ... everything. The reason I got interested in the book was I saw Hanna doing a book review on The Morning Show about a month or so ago. The discussion was quite intriquing and I could relate to 90% of what was being discussed. My wife's reading the book now.

Here are some short "hotspots" covered:

• 60% of masters degrees going to females now ... 1/2 of Med & Law degrees going to females now ... 40% of household breadwinners are now females
• because of their busy professional schedules, many more women are into the 1-night, no commitments sexual relationships
• more and more women moving into "once" male dominated professions + their jobs skills are outpacing that of men
• the jobs market is starting to put more emphasis on the "female", as its been determined that their managing skills better match today's environment
• dating women now often evaluate their men as either "players" or "losers"
• marriage is less appealing to women now + when they marry, they are the ones to most likely set the terms of the marriage
• sexual indifference ... women are evolving, men are not

Hanna mentions in her book that the pulse of all this is being more quickly observed in the Asian society, where they are more earnestly focused on self-fulfillment.

So we, men, are beginning to become more submissive in our roles ... things should be interesting over the next few decades. Mac

 

[SoonToBe]

I am quite sure that my wife's willingness to accept our cuckold relationship stems from the confidence she has from working and earning quite a good paycheck.

 

[Custer Laststand]

Hiki,

Here's an interesting question for the likes of Custer Mac and Doc. It seems that the increasing independence of married women is leading to increasing female infidelity.

Yes. See "The Overdue Sexual Emancipation of Women," here:
http://www.moderndirections.com/a22.htm

What about the more extreme ends of such independence, where the husband takes the role of homemaker and the wife becomes the breadwinner. Is this subset of females even more prone to infidelity?

As Mac mentioned, woman-dominated marriages seem increasingly common. Instructional books like:

Parker, Janice C., 2012, Make Your Husband Your Maid (173 pp., softcover)

also seem increasingly common and to be a mostly-recent phenomenon.

Are there data to support this? —Hiki

Probably, but I can't point you to an article, at the moment, that gives a breakdown of the different percentages of various subsets of married women who have affairs and how those percentages have been changing through time.

One bar graph I've seen (can't seem to locate it at the moment) shows the percentage of married women who are having or have had affairs has increased over the decades, relative to the percentage of married men who are having or have had affairs over the same time period. During the most recent decade, the bar graph shows a higher percentage of married women are having or have had affairs than married men.

The time period of the bar graph corresponds to the post-world war II time period during which women have been increasingly employed, and their salaries, on average, have gradually been moving up relative to men.

In viewing graphs of this nature, one should keep in mind that (according to the conventional wisdom) when responding to surveys, women tend to minimize the number of men they've taken to bed while men tend to exaggerate the number of women they've bedded.

—Custer

 

[Custer Laststand]

Hiki,

Re.:

One bar graph I've seen (can't seem to locate it at the moment) shows the percentage of married women who are having or have had affairs has increased over the decades, relative to the percentage of married men who are having or have had affairs over the same time period. During the most recent decade, the bar graph shows a higher percentage of married women are having or have had affairs than married men.

I found it. See:

The Hotwife Phenomenon:
http://www.moderndirections.com/46.htm

—Custer

 

[hiki]

Thank you Custer. It is very interesting that their data shows 60% of women
engaging in affairs. We do have to take this number with a grain of salt but
taken into consideration the fact that women are bound to lie about such things
(i.e. not admit to affairs), the true number could be even bigger. This would be
especially true in marrages with a SAHD (Stay-at-home Dad). In fact it may
well be that women in such marriages who are not engaging in extramarital
affairs may represent a real minority, say 25%. A very titillating thought.

-Hiki

 

[Custer Laststand]

Hiki,

Thank you Custer.

You're welcome.

It is very interesting that their data shows 60% of women
engaging in affairs.

Note also the spike in the percentage of women who said they've had affairs when the pill was approved by the FDA, then subsidence, followed by the beginning of a steady increase in about the mid-1970's to 60% (as you mentioned) in 2000.

The implication seems to be the bar graph shows affair percentages among married women and married men, but that isn't clarified very well.

We have to take this number with a grain of salt, but
taking into consideration the fact that women are bound to lie about such things
(i.e. not admit to affairs), the true number could be even bigger.

Saying "the fact that women are bound to lie about such things" is too strong a statement. Presumably some do and some don't, but in a statistical sense (as I understand it), more women than not tend to low-ball the number of men they've bedded (if asked), while more men than not tend to high-ball the number of women they've bedded (if asked).

This should be weighed against the possibility — perhaps I should say the likelyhood — that the survey results shown in the bar graph are based on the responses to survey forms published (for instance) in magazines or otherwise received from people who had the option of responding or not responding. If so, the responses would not be from a random selection of women and men. Rather, they would be from the responses of women and men who were self-selected, which implies they had an unusually strong interest in the subject. That is, those uncomfortable about admitting anything about their sexuality, or lack thereof, probably did not respond at all thereby causing the results to be skewed.

Statisticians tend to consider survey results from self-selected respondents, which are then presented as representing the population at large, as suspect at best and often worthless.

This would be especially true in marrages with a SAHD (Stay-at-home Dad).

Interesting acronym... and yes, I would think so.

In fact, it may well be that women in such marriages who are not engaging in extramarital affairs may [be] a real minority, say 25%. A very titillating thought. —Hiki

In light of my comments above re. the difficulty of obtaining valid statistics, I won't hazard a guess.

For more on this subject, see "An evolutionary theory in support of hotwife-cuckold husband relationships" (or words to that effect), here:

http://www.moderndirections.com/evolution2.htm

—Custer

 

[JuanDay]

Interesting about women lowballing. My wife told me she'd slept with 16 men before me. A recent drunken chat at a party with one of those men and his wife, who is an old friend of my wife's, suggests it's at least double that.

She has also apparently had competitions on girly holidays to see who can bed the most men.