Bringing home the bacon a man’s job

MATURE-AGE husbands still believe bringing home the bacon is a man’s job, despite a boom in female breadwinners.

Work choices ... men approaching retirement age found their wife’s decision to stay in wo

MATURE-AGE husbands still believe bringing home the bacon is a man’s job despite a boom in female breadwinners.

A new report into the work preferences of men approaching retirement age found their wife’s decision to stay in work has a profound influence on their own decision to keep on working.

The hordes of married women returning to the workforce between 2001 and 2011 has resulted in a 4 per cent increase in the number of 55-64-year-old working husbands, according to the National Centre for Vocational Education and Research report.

When husbands are already working, however, their 55-64-year-old wives are less likely to be inspired to get back to work themselves.

KPMG partner and social commentator Bernard Salt said with the increasing numbers of women working, he would have expected older husbands to put their feet up and let their wives do the work.

“The model where men are working and women are at home — you could say that is the traditional view of life,” he said.

“It may well be that some men don’t like to see women working while they are at home because it is emasculating.

“You could argue that we are looking at the last of the traditionalists women who are quite happy to sit home while their husband works in those later years.”

More than half a million Australian households now have a female as the major wage earner — 140,000 more households than a decade ago.

Although women still earn on average 17 per cent less than men, the number of female breadwinner households is likely to increase because women are now more likely to have a university degree.

Mr Salt said many baby boomers have also been forced to stay in the workforce longer because they lost much of their retirement savings during the global financial crisis in 2008.

NCVER managing director Rod Camm said employers who are chasing good workers need to consider the potential employee’s family situation.

“There is an implication for large employers to say well you can’t just consider trying to attract the man, you have to think about both partners in a relationship,” he said.

“In the middle of the mining boom, for example, many women were taking over major truck driving roles because their man was working in the mine.

“Employers who want to keep the man (in metropolitan regions) need to consider their wives as well otherwise you might be fighting a losing battle.”

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