Can men successfully transition from a SAH wife to a working wife?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I don't think so. Men with SAHMs become so conditioned to doing nothing at home, that they really can't pull their 50% when their wife goes back to work. A better strategy might be getting the kids to do more chores because they're older now.

Yes I have noticed that the best, most supportive bosses are men with kids and wives who work outside the home.
The least understanding/supportive=men with SAHM wives.

Similar dynamic here.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don't think so. Men with SAHMs become so conditioned to doing nothing at home, that they really can't pull their 50% when their wife goes back to work. A better strategy might be getting the kids to do more chores because they're older now.

Yes I have noticed that the best, most supportive bosses are men with kids and wives who work outside the home.
The least understanding/supportive=men with SAHM wives.

Similar dynamic here.

I’ve found the least supportive to be boomer/early Gen X women who had a career “without help.” (Never mind that their mothers, sisters, neighbors, and friends were all SAHMs who would help in a pinch.)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don't think so. Men with SAHMs become so conditioned to doing nothing at home, that they really can't pull their 50% when their wife goes back to work. A better strategy might be getting the kids to do more chores because they're older now.

Yes I have noticed that the best, most supportive bosses are men with kids and wives who work outside the home.
The least understanding/supportive=men with SAHM wives.

Similar dynamic here.

I’ve found the least supportive to be boomer/early Gen X women who had a career “without help.” (Never mind that their mothers, sisters, neighbors, and friends were all SAHMs who would help in a pinch.)

While I agree that some of this generation of women are not as understanding as they should be wrt the realities of full-time career and family, I don't think it is due to some sort of blindness towards the "help" that they got from SAHMs. I think it is because they were competing in workplaces built around a model of a worker being 100% available to HIS career, with minimal outside responsibilities. These women never felt that they could talk about their kids or families, that they could never leave work early to catch a kid's game, that they could leave for emergencies, because it frankly would NOT have been tolerated in their day. I have a friend whose mother was an attorney in a conservative southern city. This woman raised 3 kids, with a relatively supportive husband (for his time), with NO maternity leave, 2 weeks of annual vacation, never a moment of grace, in an office full of good ole' boys. She is tough as nails and the most effective/efficient person I have ever met. And while she recognizes that she got a raw deal, she isn't the most sympathetic to the problems faced by today's white collar workers in similar professions. I think sympathy is sometimes lost when you've been beaten down by the MAN for 40+ years.

For a glimpse into what it was like for working moms during that time, check out this Baltimore sun article from 1995 on Marcia Clark's custody battle with her ex husband. The sexism she faced was astounding by today's standards.
https://www.baltimoresun.com/news/bs-xpm-1995-03-03-1995062004-story.html