美国调查机构皮尤最近的一项调查显示，美国有孩子的家庭中有四成家庭的主要或唯一经济收入来自于孩子的母亲。这其中37%为收入比丈夫高的已婚女性，另外63%为单亲妈妈。这份调查报告指出，收入比丈夫高的已婚女性多半年龄较大、上过大学，而且是白人，她们的收入要明显高于单亲妈妈。相比而言，单亲妈妈多数年纪较轻，受过高等教育的几率也较低，且多数为非裔或西班牙裔。据研究数据显示，美国已婚女性的就业率在1968年为37%， 而到2011年，这个比例上升到了65%。虽然工作女性为家庭带来经济收益，但有四分之三的人表示女性出去工作让带孩子这件事更加难办，另外有一半人认为这种情况下女性出去工作可能会导致婚姻破裂。

A record 40% of US homes with children relied on mothers as their main or only source of income, a Pew survey found.

Mothers are increasingly the primary breadwinners in their families, a new report has found, marking a dramatic shift in US household finances.

A record 40% of US homes with children relied on mothers as their main or only source of income, a Pew survey found.

Of the women supporting their families, 37% were married women who earned more than their husbands, while 63% were single mothers, the report said.

In the 1960s, just 11% of families were supported primarily by mothers.

According to the Pew report, married women with a higher income than their husbands tended to be older, white and college-educated.

They were likely to earn much more than single mothers, who on average tended to be younger, more likely to be black or Hispanic, and less likely to have attended an institution of higher education.

For married women, the median total family income was almost $80,000 compared to the median income of $23,000 for the families of single mothers.

In the US about one-quarter of all households are headed by a single mother and women make up nearly half the national workforce.

According to the study, which was based on census data, the employment rate among married women rose from 37% in 1968 to 65% in 2011.

The authors of the Pew Research Center report said it was unclear if the financial crisis had an effect on the trends.

But the study noted that since 2007, more women have said they wanted to work full time and fewer said they would prefer not to work at all.

The study also said that women's growing role in the workforce remained divisive.

While women in the workforce bring clear financial benefits to their families, the study said three-quarters of adults said it was harder to raise children if their mothers worked, and half said it was harder for marriage to succeed under those circumstances.

Yet most Americans do not believe women should return to a traditional role in the home.

(Source: BBC News)

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（中国日报网英语点津 Helen ）