ABSTRACT
Families have long faced a dilemma in allocating time to work and family. Who will earn money to support the family financially and who will provide the caregiving children require and the physical and psychological support that the family earner(s) need? In post-World War II America, providing economically for a family largely took place within a two-parent context, and the economy was such that (White) men could often earn sufficient income from one job to support a wife and children. Following the Depression and World War II, there was little foreign competition as Europe and Japan rebuilt, and there was a sustained period of high productivity and strong wage growth for male earners (Levy, 1996). Further, discrimination against women in the workplace was legal and widespread-hence, opportunities for women outside the home were limited.
