There, crushing taxation, relentless inflation, and the march of the regulatory state have conspired to enact a devastating social revolution. The ideal for most Americans was the father as breadwinner and the mother as homemaker. In John F. Kennedy's first term, two-thirds of married women didn't have to work outside the home. Then, most families could live on the husband's income. Today, only one-quarter can afford to do so.
Feminists claim that the old order reflected misogyny and discrimination.
In fact, for single women in some age groups, overall employment is actually down. That's partly because it was easier for younger women to get a job in 1960 than today. Yet these are the women who are most likely to want work. The long march of tax increases didn't even slow down in the eighties. Thirty years ago, women knew that a main benefit of marriage was freedom from the workplace.