Female Bread-Winners Shamed by Family and Friends

It's a fact. In my home, I'm the bread-winner. And before you think I make big bucks working in radio, stop. I don't.

I grew up in a very conservative home where I was taught that I should be a homemaker and that my husband should be the provider for my family. But times have changed considerably since I was a little girl. The way it was for my grandparents and parents just isn't realistic. I don't live in a world where I can stay home with my son while living on my husband's salary. I absolutely would love to be a stay at home mom and raise my boy and home-school him, but that just isn't possible. And yet some of my family members are really good at making me feel guilty that I can't.

I can't help but think of all of the women who were raised as I was. That we should be pregnant, barefoot and in the kitchen. That we should put on nice clothes and have our hair and makeup done with dinner on the table when our husband walks through the door after work.  More and more women are becoming the bread-winners of their family, but 40% of those bread-winning women say they feel exactly what I do - pressure from family and friends to downplay the fact that they're the money makers.

And get this 28% of married women said their parents disapprove of their role as main income earner, according to the report by the Family Wealth Advisors Council.

So not only are we taken on a guilt trip by our parents, friends and other family, but 46% of female bread-winners say their employers don't offer the flexibility they needed to juggle work and family.

The survey found that 95% of women contribute at least 25% of the household income, 73% contribute more than 50% of the household income, and 32% are their households' sole breadwinners.