The new female breadwinner: discursively doing and undoing gender relations

Public discourse of late has drawn attention to increases in number of married women in the U.S. who serve as their families’ primary breadwinners. Contributing to these conversations, this study examines how breadwinning mothers (BWMs) reproduce, resist or challenge hegemonic gender relations through an analysis of different ways these women discursively position their identities and tasks as earners. Findings from a discourse analysis of interviews with 44 female breadwinners married to stay-at-home fathers are presented in relation to 5 aspects of conventional breadwinning that emerged across BWMs discourse: (a) breadwinning as career-primary, (b) breadwinning as obligation, (c) breadwinning suitability and personality, (d) breadwinning as relational power and (e) breadwinners as ideal workers. Practical applications of these findings are considered in relation to women’s work–life conflict, martial role negotiation, and workplace interactions and interventions.