At the same time as women were increasing their participation in the workforce,
median family income among “traditional” families (in which the wife stays at
home) remained fairly stagnant from the early 1970s. Only in families where women
entered the workforce has there been a substantial increase in family income. While
in 1970 two-earner families earned about 130 percent of the income that singleearner
families earned, in 2007 two-earner families earned about 180 percent of
single-earner families. Whether the increase in female labor force participation is
a function of gender equity, economic necessity, or some of both is a matter that
continues to be debated. But we can say from the data that family incomes have not
substantially grown where women have not entered the workforce. This stagnation
in median family income has been a recurrent theme in the debates over the state
of the U.S. economy.