Couples view husband’s career as more important

According to a new study, couples are more likely to move for the husband’s career even if the wife has a high-flying job

NEW YORK: When Regina Strauss’ husband’s engineering job took him to Toulouse, France, she went with him even though it meant giving up her own career as a journalist.
Her story is not unusual. According to a new study, couples are more likely to move for the husband’s career even if the wife has a high-flying job.

The researchers found that when couples relocate, the man’s career tends to get a boost, while the wife’s suffers.

“With so many more dual-earning couples nowadays, more people are facing the situation where they have to decide whose career is more important,” Mary Noonan at the University of Iowa said.

And most decide that the husband’s career is the priority, showing traditional gender roles are still entrenched, Noonan and co-researcher Kimberly Shauman at the University of California at Davis found. Noonan and Shauman analysed the experiences of more than 4,000 working men and women between the ages of 25 and 59 all of whom were married.

The men who relocated for their jobs earned on average of $3,000 more in the first year, compared to an average increase of only $700 for those that didn’t.

But women actually earned less than they would have if they had stayed put and were also less likely to remain employed.

“Our results support the notion that families migrate to enhance husbands’ careers,” said Noonan.

Sociologists have speculated that the types of jobs men and women hold may be part of the reason, with men likely to choose more specialised or in-demand jobs that have a steeper salary ladder.

But Shauman and Noonan’s research, published in Social Forces, shows that even when the playing field is levelled with regard to the type of job, when a couple relocates it still hurt women. “Even if you’re a female CEO, you’re also facing negative consequences after the move,” she said.