IN THIS ENTRY about an auto plant reopening in Tennessee, Jesse Powell makes an important statement about the “family wage,” which is commonly known as an income that can support a family without a working wife. Mr. Powell wrote:

As far as “restoring the family wage” I think the whole concept of a “family wage” job is misleading. Any wage that men earn is a “family wage” because the role of the man is to provide for his family regardless of how rich a country he lives in. Society should be organized around the man playing his proper role and the woman playing her proper role, the income level of a country has nothing to do with it.

When men earned less money in absolute terms in the past married women worked less than they do today. Of course there is the question of how we get from where we are today to where we want to be tomorrow but in terms of wages for men that is something that is determined by the market. The point is not to raise men’s wages in order to allow them to be breadwinners; the point is to organize family life so that whatever men earn is sufficient for them to fulfill their role as men.

Exactly. Some mythical “family wage” is not the first step to restoring the traditional family. Better working conditions for men, and preference for them in hiring, will not come about unless more people are choosing the life that makes the family wage desirable.

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