Decades ago, Americans largely expected mothers to stay home while fathers worked outside the home. Today, two-parent, full-time working families are much more common, and Americans are more accepting of different roles for mothers and fathers. But while women have made major gains in the workplace, traditional expectations about who handles the work at home have been slower to change.
Let’s take a look back….
In 1975, just 31% of different-sex couples with children under 18 had two full-time working parents. Meanwhile, 42% had a father who worked full time while the mother was not employed. According to the Pew Research Center, the traditional one-working-parent family was much more common than it is today.
By 1991, Americans were beginning to show more flexibility about which parent should work full time. When Gallupasked Americans who should work full time if one parent worked part time or stayed home, 55% said it did not matter which parent worked full time, while 44% said the husband should. Among those who believed one parent should stay home, 63% said the mother should, compared with just 3% who said the father should.
By 2001, attitudes had shifted again.
55% said it did not matter which parent stayed home, compared with 43% who said the mother should stay home. Only 1% said the father should stay home. Americans were becoming more accepting of different family arrangements, even as the idea of having one parent stay home remained common. At the same time, only 13% of Americans said the ideal arrangement was for both parents to work full time outside the home. 41% said one parent should stay home solely to raise the children, according to Gallup.
The structure of American families continued to change.
By 2025, 52% of different-sex couples with children under 18 had two full-time working parents, up from 31% in 1975. Meanwhile, the share of couples where the dad worked full time and the mom was not employed had fallen from 42% to 23%, according to the Pew Research Center.
The change is also reflected in how Americans view women’s opportunities. According to a 2024 Pew survey, 76% said women were doing better at getting leadership positions, while 74% said women were doing better at getting well-paying jobs. Another 66% said women were doing better at getting into college.
But progress in the workplace has not eliminated every difference between men and women.
In 2024, women earned an average of 85% of what men earned, based on median hourly earnings for both full- and part-time workers, according to Pew. Among workers ages 25 to 34, women earned about 95 cents for every dollar earned by a man in the same age group. The pay gap narrowed sharply in the 1980s and 1990s, but progress has largely stalled since: women earned 81% of what men earned in 2003, barely different from where it stands today.
According to Pew, The division of responsibilities at home also remains unequal. Among families where both parents work full time, 52% say the mother does more when it comes to day-to-day parenting, compared with 10% who say the father does more. When it comes to household chores, 43% say the mother does more, compared with 17% who say the father does more.
So, what has changed?
A lot. In 1975, two full-time working parents were the exception rather than the norm. By 2025, that had become the most common arrangement among couples with children. Americans also became more likely to say it does not matter which parent works or stays home.
But the transformation is not complete.
Women have become a major part of the American workforce and have made significant gains in leadership, education and access to well-paying jobs. Yet women still earn less than men on average and are more likely to report taking on a larger share of parenting and household responsibilities.
The debate over women’s roles has changed dramatically. It is no longer simply about whether women should work outside the home. The question now is whether expectations at home will change as much as expectations at work have.
The history shows a major shift from the traditional stay-at-home mother and working father to families where both parents work full time. But the workplace is only part of the story. For the transformation to continue, the division of work at home may have to change, too.
This post was written by Marist Poll Media Team member Molly Goodger