Husbands grow insecure if their wives earn more than them, says study

From ‘Abhimaan’ to ‘Main, Meri Patni Aur Woh’, we have enough Bollywood movies telling us about jealous husbands and how their insecurities can break a perfectly healthy marriage. In ‘Abhimaan’ we saw a husband, played by Amitabh Bachchan, growing increasingly insecure when his wife started becoming more popular than him professionally, and probably earning more too. Now we belong to the generation of working couples, who take great pride in each other’s professional achievements. So, is it still possible that a husband may grow insecure if his wife starts earning more than him? Surprisingly, a study points out that husbands still fall prey to patriarchal pressure and become increasingly stressed if their wives earn more than them.

According to a study conducted by researchers at the University of Bath, husbands who are completely dependent on their wives for financial support are most stressed about their situation. “These findings suggest that social norms about male breadwinning – and traditional conventions about men earning more than their wives – can be dangerous for men’s health. They also show how strong and persistent are gender identity norms,” the study author Dr. Joanna Syrda shared in a press release

Overshadowing a man’s income

The researchers arrived at this conclusion after studying the data collected from 6,000 married couples in America. The data was collected over a course of 15 years. The study results indicate that when the wives’ income exceeded 40 per cent of the total household income, the men started getting anxious. According to the researchers, husbands are least stressed when their wives help them financially. But a man starts getting insecure if his wife starts overshadowing his income.

“The consequences of traditional gender role reversals in marriages associated with wives’ higher earnings span multiple dimensions, including physical and mental health, life satisfaction, marital fidelity, divorce, and marital bargaining power,” said Dr Syrda. “With masculinity closely associated with the conventional view of the male breadwinner, traditional social gender norms mean men may be more likely to experience psychological distress if they become the secondary earner in the household or become financially dependent on their wives, a finding that has implications for managing male mental health and society’s understanding of masculinity itself.”