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 Monique Danielle
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Second Income Catch 22
Today, my thoughts are on the second income
Catch-22, a problem afflicting many dual-income families, particularly
those with children. Despite living in the feminist movement’s
fourth decade, the majority of household tasks still fall in the
woman’s court. And, again despite the last 40-odd years of
women’s increased presence in the work force, wives usually earn less
than husbands.
In discussing this with various business women and men, it goes like
this: since the woman earns less, her job isn’t as “important” to
the bottom line as his, justifying (with quirky logic) her extra load
of home-work, thus inhibiting her availability to participate in
off-hours work-related functions that advance workers to the next rung
on the career ladder. There’s the Catch-22: she earns less,
resulting in more home-focus, and since she’s more home-focused, she
earns less. Am I making sense here? Without parity on the home
front (read: roughly equivalent sharing between husbands and wives on
housework and childcare) she’ll always provide the secondary
income. Which, in the long run, affects the welfare of the entire
family. And I’m sure there are plenty of business women who are
fine with the status quo. But I’m telling you, I hear from a lot
of women who aren’t. I mean, hey, as long as you’re working, why
not earn as much for your time as possible?
I feel very fortunate. My design firm, DivaDesignWorld, started
with a dream and a web site address, and was a definite backseat to my
hubby’s career...heck, calling it a “secondary income” was
ambitious! But now, three years later, it has become equal to his
career. For me, that equality has three basic components:
hard work, my own conviction in the legitimacy of my career, and my
husband’s philosophical and tangible support.
For most business women, there’s no easy solution to the secondary
income dilemma (although there’s growing awareness that our government,
despite lip service about “family values,” provides embarrassingly
little support...read Perfect Madness: Motherhood in the Age of Anxiety
by Judith Warner.) I guess, for now, it’s up to our generation of
business women to explore new career/life possibilities and,
ultimately, provide examples for the next generation
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