The Richer Sex

March 12, 2012
This thought-provoking exploration of the way women's expanding roles in the workplace is changing their lives at home is sure to create a stir. Journalist Mundy, author of a recent biography of Michelle Obama, has conducted extensive interviews around the U.S. with women (and men) who candidly spoke about their changing needs and desires in romantic relationships. "We are entering the era in which roles will flip," she writes. Mundy is adept at teasing out the various dilemmas and situations that will result if women do continue their path of usurpation in education and the workplace: will women divorce underperforming husbands who don't hold up their share of the work, at home or on the job? Will they be able to let go of the role of "gatekeeper" of the home and turn it over to their husbands? Will men learn to cede the traditional breadwinner role to more-qualified wives? In addition to the reconfiguration of economic and domestic mores, Mundy also posits that the "Big Flip" will drastically affect perceptions of gender roles and biological proclivities. Her tone is pleasingly optimistic, but Mundy occasionally overreaches with broad generalizations, such as her assertion that for "today's self-sufficient, economically providing women, a man who fishes and hunts will have the same elemental sex appeal he has had since the beginning of time." Readable and poignant, Mundy's latest is the perfect starting-point for this timely conversation.

March 1, 2012
Nearly 40 percent of married women in the U.S. earn more than their husbands. They exemplify a trend that has been increasing and promises major changes in the economy, the workplace, and the home. In the future, women will make the major decisions in corporate America and at home as they wield their greater spending power and authority at work. How will men react? Mundy interviewed women and men of various backgrounds, across the U.S. and abroad, to establish that the trend has caught many off guard. Having grown up expecting that the man would be the major breadwinner, those in higher-earning-woman couples are adjusting to a new reality. Mundy profiles couples coping with higher-earning women and stay-at-home dads to show how role reversal has strained some relationships and strengthened others. She explores the reasons behind the trendthe decline of male-dominated job sectors; the rising education of womenand the ultimate impact on greater society. With women earning more than men, will we value money less and childrearing more? Will the war between the sexes escalate? A fascinating look at a trend that promises major social changes.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2012, American Library Association.)

April 15, 2012

Mundy (staff writer, Washington Post; Everything Conceivable: How Assisted Reproduction Is Changing Our World) tells the story of a social change revolutionizing the postindustrial world: women are becoming the primary breadwinners. Through hundreds of interviews, Mundy shows how families are evolving in response to this development. She discusses shifting gender roles as men decide to quit their jobs, become homemakers, and raise children. She considers the challenges new couples face in developing relationships while navigating these changes and examines the side effects of this societal shift (Japan's plummeting birthrate is a good example). VERDICT Mundy succeeds in capturing the perspectives of both genders. Her view is ultimately optimistic, and this book offers a rewarding look at the possibilities and challenges that come with these developments. Highly recommended to readers interested in gender and family; also relevant to those in fields such as counseling/psychology, economics, education, sociology, and politics.--Scott Vieira, Sam Houston State Univ. Lib., Huntsville, TX

Copyright 2012 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.