Want to do better next time? Work for it.
Want to do better the next time around? Work for it.
The most recent census shows that in states where more women work (such as Wisconsin, Minnesota, and Iowa), the divorce rate is lower. In contrast, states where fewer women have jobs (such as Kentucky and Arizona) the divorce rate is higher.
Dual income households have lower divorce rates
This got two professors at Boston University thinking, so they decided to study divorce rates in couples where both spouses worked. They found evidence that dual income households had lower rates of divorce. This was true even when the professors took total income per house out of the mix. In other words, it was true for the rich and not so rich.
Career women have even lower rates
One of the professors of the study noted that, for couples in which the wife can be considered a career woman, the probability of the marriage ending in divorce is 25 percent lower than for other couples. Further, in couples where the woman makes at least half of the household income, the divorce rate was even lower.
Why? It’s about equal power
The authors of the study concluded that the reason the divorce rate was lower in two earner households was that both spouses had purchasing power. This power allowed them to smooth over traditional rough spots in a marriage. So, for example, if one spouse wanted to hire a housecleaner to take pressure off weekend time or take the other away for a special stress relief weekend, they could. Again, it was not about being super rich, it was about having the ability to decide and spend the money to relieve strain.
