Dual-Career Family Issues

Dual-career families are defined as families in which both partners are employed and are pursuing careers as well as managing various demands and obligations relating to their family. These families can be distinguished from the more general concept of dual-earner families or dual-earner couples, where both partners are employed (but they may or may not necessarily be pursuing a career). Dual-career couples can also be distinguished from one-and-a-half-earner couples, where one of the partners is considered the primary breadwinner and the other partner’s employment may be viewed as a supplement to the primary breadwinner’s salary. The term career, in this context, indicates that both partners are employed in occupations that require [Page 327]a degree of education and training, a level of commitment and responsibility, and ...