The rise and decline of the 'male breadwinner family' in Britain

This paper examines changes in the historical 'compact' around the male bre adwinner family (MBWF) in Britain. The rise of the MBWF produced a 'compact ' covering the sexual division of labour, the economic support of family me mbers, the distribution of time and the regulation of marriage and parentho od. Its decline has been accompanied by an erosion of each dimension of thi s compact, which has reduced gender inequalities but produced other problem s. The author argues that a new compact is required if solutions to these p roblems are to be combined with an extension of gender equity. Particular a ttention is paid to the role of shorter working hours as a component of dif ferent social arrangements over time. JEL classifications: J16, J20, N33, N 34.