Breadwinner model

The breadwinner model is a paradigm of family centered on a breadwinner, "the member of a family who earns the money to support the others". In heterosexual relationships, the breadwinner is most often the male, with the model being consistent with patriarchical family norms. The earner works outside the home to provide the family with income and benefits such as health insurance. The non-earner usually stays at home and takes care of children and the elderly. Since the 1950s, social scientists and feminist theorists have increasingly criticized the gendered division of work and care and the expectation that the breadwinner role should be fulfilled by men. Norwegian government policy has increasingly targeted men as fathers, as a tool of changing gender relations. In 2014 the US Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that 30.8% of heterosexual couples with children under 18 had a man as the sole breadwinner. 5.6% of families had a woman as the sole breadwinner. The percentage of families with female breadwinners has been declining since the end of the recession.