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BUSINESS ENGLISH · BUSINESS ENGLISH · ADVANCED (C1-C2)

FEMALE
BREADWINNERS

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1 Warm up

In pairs, discuss the following questions.

1. Who usually earns more money in your country: men or women? Why is this?
2. When you were growing up, who did most of the housework? Why?
3. If you are in a relationship, how do you decide who does the housework? If you are not in a
relationship, how would you decide if you were?

2 Focus on vocabulary

Part A: match the vocabulary to the definitions.

down in the dumps (idiom) emasculate (v) morose (adj.) resentment (n)
sulk (v) breadwinner (n) burden (n) equitable (adj.)

1. be uncommunicative because you’re in a bad mood or upset and you want it

to be known
2. the person who earns the most money in a family

3. reduce someone’s feeling of power and control

4. a responsibility which is difficult or hard work

5. treating people in a fair and balanced way

6. a feeling of anger over something that happened which does not seem fair
or reasonable
7. inactive, rarely speaking and unhappy

8. depressed or sad for a long period of time

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Part B: now put the vocabulary from Part A into the correct gaps in the following sentences. You may
have to change the form of the word.

1. Their mother left them very unequal amounts of money in her will which has fuelled a great deal
of and they’re barely speaking now.

2. Ignore him. He’ll be fine in a few days. He’s just because his team lost the final
the other day.

3. Tessa’s been in a lot of pain since the operation on her legs and has been quite as
she can’t get outside in the sun.

4. I think when he lost his job and couldn’t find another, he felt quite . He’d always
lived to work and not having any was killing him.

5. I’m going to take her to the beach for a week, that’ll cheer her up. She’s been
since she broke up with her boyfriend and really needs to get away.

6. She works two jobs and still does all the housework. He does one and seems to mostly play
computer games. It’s hardly the most relationship.

7. My grandparents clearly thought my father should be the and be out earning. But
he loved staying at home with the kids while my mother pursued her career.

8. My mother was deeply upset when my grandmother died, but I think she was secretly relieved
that she no longer had the of caring for her.

Now in pairs, discuss the following questions.

1. Have there been periods in your life when you’ve been down in the dumps? What caused it?
2. Who was the breadwinner in your family when you were growing up? Why was that?
3. What do you think two people need to do to make sure their relationship is equitable?
4. What has been the biggest burden in your life?

3 Listening for gist

Listen to the conversation between two people and match the person to the description.

1. Sue a. a colleague

2. Jackie b. Sue’s partner

3. Gordon c. Jackie’s partner

4. Simon d. got a promotion

5. Michael e. Sue’s friend

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4 Listening comprehension

Listen again and decide if the following statements are True (T) or False (F).

1. Gordon was keen to get a promotion.

2. Simon took Sue for a celebratory meal.

3. Simon isn’t very good at cooking.

4. Michael does more housework than Simon.

5. Jackie worries about her weight.

6. Simon has expressed his feelings.

7. Sue knows why Simon is unhappy.

8. Sue thinks Jackie is supportive.

5 Skimming for gist

Read the following titles and choose the most appropriate ones for paragraphs A – E in the article on
page four. You will not need all of the titles.

1. The balance at home

2. The difficulties for men

3. Harder to stay together

4. What society asks

5. Historical inequality

6. Finding a partnership

7. The problem with female breadwinners

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Maintaining the balance

What happens when women earn more than men?

A.

There was a time in most places around the world when, in a typical heterosexual partnership, the man went
out to work and the woman stayed at home with the children, ran the household and was responsible for the
housework. Traditional roles have long since shifted away from this and it is generally the norm for both adults
in a relationship, even one without kids, to be working. For a long time after women entered the workforce, men
still generally earned far more than women. These days, that is less unusual. However, according to statistics, in
the UK as recently as 2019, just 26% of women earned more than their male partner, with the United States only
slightly more at 30%. This disparity is likely indicative of the gulf which still exists between salaries with men still
earning on average 16% more than their female colleagues.

B.

However, in households where women are the breadwinners, 45% of them are still doing the lion’s share of
housework compared to just 12.5% of men in the reverse situation. While women do tend to cut back on
their housework as their earnings increase, this plateaus at a certain point with women generally taking on a
disproportionate number of chores compared to their partner, even reverting to traditional roles in some cases.
Raina Brands, associate professor at UCL’s School of Management, whose research has focused specifically on
gender, explains that it can be uncomfortable for both men and women to violate society’s expectations. Women
frequently feel the need to increase their contribution in the home when their salaries increase above their
partner’s, as a way to compensate for going against the grain.

C.

It’s perhaps unsurprising that couples react this way. Anecdotal evidence suggests that the mother is called by
the school even when the father is listed as the primary contact and women are more frequently asked about
‘supporting’ their male partners when they earn more than when the opposite occurs. In 2013, a study found
59% of Americans saying that children prosper when one parent stayed at home, but 16% believed that if the
primary earner was the mother, it would have a negative impact on the child. 45% favoured the mother staying
at home, with just two percent preferring that this was the role of the father. Although it would make sense for
female breadwinners to work and for their male partners to stay at home with the children, the data suggests this
does not happen. Although around a quarter of women in the UK are the primary earner, only 10% of men are
listed as stay-at-home-dads. Sometimes, women who can earn more choose not to in order to run the house and
to maintain expectations.

D.

The strains on the relationship when the female is the breadwinner are notable in research too. In marriages where
women out-earn their husbands, divorce is a more common occurrence. What is also clear is that when the female
earns more as well as taking on the majority of the household tasks, marriage dissatisfaction is at its highest, with
neither partner satisfied.

E.

Ultimately, each couple must find what works for them. Certainly, ensuring both parties are pulling their weight
in the house is going to go a long way to keeping the peace. Yet, it’s also important that each person in the
relationship supports the other with their career goals, as both stand to gain from their success.

Based on: bbc.com, research.umn.edu

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6 Scanning for details

Quickly read through the article on page four and find the meaning of the following numbers.

a. 26 →

b. 30 →

c. 45 →

d. 12.5 →

e. 59 →

f. 10 →

7 Reading comprehension

Complete the following sentences with one, two, or three words from the article on page four.

1. Traditionally, women while men tended to go out and earn money for the family.

2. Around an eighth of male breadwinners do more housework than their female partners, while
given , it’s a little under half of women.

3. are disproportionally done by women even when their salaries increase beyond
that of their male partners.

4. Just less than two-thirds of Americans believe that in order for their kids to , one
parent should remain at home.

5. In a 2013 US survey, just over one-sixth of respondents said they felt that if was
not the father, it would be harmful for the child.

6. Research has found difficulties for relationships where the breadwinner is the
woman, such as an increase in the frequency of divorce.

7. The highest occurrence of took place when the woman out-earned her partner
and did a higher proportion of the housework.

8. Heterosexual couples have a higher chance of when housework is equally shared

and partners are supportive of each other’s career goals.

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8 Talking point

In pairs, discuss the following questions.

1. What percentage of male breadwinners do more household tasks than females in your country?
Why do you think this is?
2. Do you think a parent should stay at home with the child(ren)? Why/Why not?
3. What problems do you think can result from one parent working and another staying at home?
How do you think these problems can be solved?
4. How would you share work and housework in your relationship? Why would you choose this way?

9 Extended activity/Homework

Scan the article on page four and find words or phrases which mean the same as the following.

1. (n., para. A): uneven difference

2. (adj., para. A): demonstrating something

3. (n., para. A): a large difference between things

4. (idiom, para. B): a larger proportion of something

5. (v., para. B): to stay at the same level or rate after some progress

6. (idiom, para. B): to behave differently from what is expected

7. (n., para. D): a cause of difficulty

8. (v, para. D): to make more money than another

9. (idiom, para. E): to do your fair share of work

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