Read the passage and choose the bestanswer.
ForCatherineLumby,decidingtotakeontheroleofbreadwinnerinherrelationshipwasnotadifficultchoice. When she discovered she was pregnant with her first child, she had just been offered a demanding new role asDirectoroftheMediaandCommunicationsdepartmentattheUniversity ofSydney.Butshedidn'tseethis as an obstacle and was prepared to use childcare when the children were old enough. It came, therefore, asa surprise to Lumby and her husband Derek that, after the birth of their son, they couldn’t actually bear the thought of putting him into childcare for nine hours a day. As she was the one with the secure job, the role of primary care-giver fell to Derek, who was writing scripts for television. This arrangement continued for the next four years, with Derek working from home and caring for both of their sons. He returned to full-time work earlier this year.
Whilst Lumby and her husband are by no means the only Australians making such a role reversal, research suggests that they are in the minority. In a government-funded survey in 2001, only 5.5 percent of couples in the 30–54-year age group saw the women working either part- or full-time while the men were unemployed. The situation is likely to change, according to the CEO of Relationships Australia, Anne Hollands. She suggests that this is due to several reasons, including the number of highly educated women in the workforce andchangingsocialpatternsandexpectations.However,shewarnsthatforcouplesinvolvedinrole-switching, therearemanypotentialdifficultiestobeovercome.Formenwhoseself-esteemisconnectedtotheirjobsand theincomeitprovidestothefamily,amajorchangeofthinkingisrequired.Italsorequireswomentoreassess, particularly with regard to domestic or child-rearing decisions, and they may have to learn to deal with the guiltofnotalwaysbeingthereatkeytimesfortheirchildren.Beingawareoftheseissuescanmakeoperating in non-traditional roles a loteasier.
