Women as main earners in Europe

Abstract

This paper conducts a cross-sectional empirical research aimed at documenting that couples with women as main earners represent a non-negligible share of the European populations today. We identify the socio-demographic characteristics of couples with women as main earners in comparison to couples with men as main earners and couples with equal-earners. We undertake a comparative and cross-temporal approach using micro-level survey data for 18 European countries from the European Social Survey and two years, 2004 and 2010, covering the period before and during the economic crisis.