Dr. Coleman was invited to give a talk to the faculty and students on Dual-Career Couples at Harvard. He discussed his clinical experience working with dual-career couples and also  what research tells us about how couples and their children can benefit from sharing financial and household responsibilities.

“Just six years after the enactment of Title IX (the law mandating that schools that receive federal money are required to have athletic programs for girls), the percentage of girls playing team sports had jumped sixfold, to 25 percent from about 4 percent.” One of the researchers, economist Betsey Stevenson “found that the changes set in motion by Title IX explained about 20 percent of the increase in women’s education and about 40 percent of the rise in employment for 25-to-34-year-old women.”

Why would this be the case?

I suspect it has to do with women’s persistent socialization toward being sensitive to other’s feelings and needs. In the past, women who stepped outside of that boundary were viewed as being tomboyish, aggressive, or “not very ladylike.” This appears to be changing. These days, women who are still heavily influenced by this belief system are hampered later down the line when they have to compete for educational or career advancement.  Young women who are able to see that competition, aggressiveness, and leadership are not only tolerable, but experiences to be enjoyed are better equipped to advocate for themselves not only in athletics, but in other important parts of their lives as well.

Shifting Roles During the Economic Downturn

“Today, men need their wives’ income,” says Joshua Coleman, a psychologist in San Francisco who wrote “The Lazy Husband: How to Get Men to Do More Parenting and Housework.” “There is an issue for men of: ‘What is my value here if I’m not bringing in money? I understand you want a communicative, empathic guy who does housework and parenting, but how much pride can I take in that?’ ”

via Working Women Say Their Marriage Is Richer For It – NYTimes.com.