Wife's Employment and Husband's Stress: A Replication and Refutation

In a mailed questionnaire study of 189 couples, Burke and Weir (1976) find employed women to be in better physical and emotional health and to hold more positive attitudes toward their marriage than housewives. They also find husbands of employed women to be in poorer health and less contented with their marriage than men whose spouses are not in the labor force. They conclude that employment contributes to the women's sense of personal growth and fulfillment. However, they also conclude that this same factor contributes to marital discord and stress experienced by the husband by: (1) reducing the amount of personal care he receives; (2) increasing his responsibilities for child care and other woman's work; (3) enhancing the measure by which husbands are called upon to their spouses' ambition; and (4) generally eroding the husband's central position in the family. Burke and Weir call for therapists for the liberated man and other support structures.