At the Juggle, we've had plenty of discussion about wives outearning their husbands-and how that changes the balance of power at home and at

work.

Now, a new study has helped quantify this trend. The report, from the Pew Research Center and based on census data, found that not only are

women increasingly better-educated than their husbands, but wives have also become the primary breadwinner in one of five marriages. The study

looked at spouses ages 30 to 44 over a time-frame of nearly four decades.

To be sure, men are still the major contributors of household income - with 78 percent making at least as much or more than their wives - but

the percentage of women earning more than their husbands has more than quadrupled, jumping from just 4 percent in 1970 to 22 percent in 2007,

the most recent year for which data were available.

What's more, in 1970, 28 percent of wives had husbands who were better educated, and 20 percent were married to men with less education. By

2007, the comparable figures were 19 percent and 28 percent, according to a New York times piece on the report. (Slightly more than half of

spouses had matching education levels in both 1970 and 2007.)

It used to be that marriage was one of the best ways for women to improve their lives financially. (The old joke was that a woman went to

college to get her M.R.S-that is, a husband, who would provide for her financially.) But the Pew report found that men are increasingly

getting a financial boost from marriage. Compared to 1970, when men usually married women with less education and fewer wives worked, these

changes have contributed to a 'gender role reversal in the gains from marriage,' the Pew report said. 'What's radically changed is that

marriage now is a better deal for men,' said Richard Fry, co-author of the report, to the Washington Post.

The report was compiled from data gathered before the recession, but Pew researchers predict that the downturn will only further these trends

as men have especially been hit by job losses.

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