The Wall Street Job Report

by Lisa Swan

Househusbands. They’re not just for sitcoms anymore. Bloomberg Businessweek has a cover story this week about how many high-powered female executives have their husbands taking on the role of helpmates; the role that housewives once played in Corporate America.

For example, in 1995, Bare Escentuals founder Leslie Blodgett’s husband, Keith, quit his job making TV commercials to raise the couple’s son, Trent, while Leslie worked at growing her cosmetics business. Bare Escentuals became so popular that Leslie was able to sell the company to Shiseido for $1.7 billion in 2010, although she still does events for the company.

In the meantime, she frets that the couple’s now 19-year-old son is closer with her husband than with her – the article describes her as “jealous” of their relationship. For her part, she tells the magazine: “Once I knew my role was providing for the family, I took that very seriously. But there was envy knowing I wasn’t there for our son during the day,” Leslie says. “Keith does everything at home—the cooking, repairs, finances, vacation planning—and I could work long hours and travel a lot, knowing he took such good care of Trent. I love my work, but I would have liked to have a little more balance or even understand what that means.”

This role reversal – where the woman has the enviable career, where the good little man at home keeps the home fires burning – is becoming more common in corporate America, as women climb the corporate ladder, Businessweek notes. According to the article, seven of the 18 women CEOs at Fortune 500 companies have had at some point a husband who has stayed at home to take care of the family. In other cases, husbands may have kept on working, but went to less high-powered careers in order to be more flexible for their wives.

Indra Nooyi, PepsiCo CEO, with her daughter

This article also notes about how woman are now the majority in the workplace, and now hold 51.4 percent of managerial/professional jobs, according to the U.S. Census.  In addition, during the recession, “three men lost their jobs for every woman,” the article says, with many men using their unemployed time to stay home with their children. One in five preschool age children has the father as the primary caregiver, according to Businessweek.

But there is still a stigma for men who take care of their children – and the home – while their wives work. Unlike women who do so, men are considered “freeloaders” or “frivolous kept men—gentlemen who golf,” the article notes. Plus, men are discovering how thankless taking care of the home can be.

There are also some positives, though, for those couples with nontraditional situations like this. Stephanie Coontz, who is a family studies professor Evergreen State College, tells Businessweek, “By going against the grain, men get to stretch their parenting abilities and women can advance.”

Lisa Swan is a Feature Writer for the Compliance Exchange and Wall Street Job Report. She is also a columnist for The Faster Times and a blogger for Subway Squawkers. Her work has also appeared in the New York Daily News, Yahoo Sports, Huffington Post and the books Graphical Player 2011 and Graphical Player 2010.