On tuesday evening the ZDF-show „37 Grad“ reported about women who earn more money than their husbands. At Henkel we actively support women to have a successful career, therefore this show was interesting for us. Just a few years ago the gender roles were clearly seperated: the man was the bread-earner. Women mostly worked part-time, if they worked at all. But the times have changed and nowadays it’s not a rarity that women earn more money than their husbands. In every tenth househould, women take the financial responsibility.

The TV-show pursued the questions how couples deal with the situation and how the gender roles are being re-defined. Three different couples were introduced, all of them with a different background. Two of the three men lost their jobs, whereby their wives became the sole earners. The men didn’t feel very comfortable about their situations and suffered from self-doubt. However, it is another situation, if both have a job but the woman earns more money. This was the case for the third couple. The man who stays at home and takes care of the children said: I have never felt better in my life. The TV-show demonstrated that there is a new generation of men, who enjoy staying at home and taking care of the children without feeling unmanly.[DE]

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