In the past, a majority of American college students were men. As a result, men held higher paying jobs than women. For most families, the husband was the top earner. But this is changing. Women now represent a majority of American college students. And they are earning more money than ever.

The study was released in January by the Pew Research Center. It found changes in the way that American wives and husbands share economic responsibility for their families.

The study found a big increase in the percentage of married women who earn more money than their husbands.

The researchers studied information about married couples from nineteen seventy through two thousand seven. The study centered on couples between the ages of thirty and forty-four who were born in the United States. In that group, twenty-two percent of the wives earned more than their husbands during the most recent year of the study. Thirty-seven years ago, just four percent of wives were top earners.

Emily Mendell cheered the news in a blog she co-writes called mothersofbrothers.com. Miz Mendell supervises communications for a financial industry association in Washington, D.C. She earns more than her husband, Dave, who is a school teacher. But she says their unequal incomes are no reason for tensions.

Emily Mendell says she and her husband have separate bank accounts. This helps avoid arguments about spending money. Money is considered the number one reason for arguments between married couples.

Job satisfaction for the lower earning partner is also important.

Emily Mendell says her husband Dave really enjoys his job as a teacher. He knows he is doing something important in their community.

Miz Mendell also says it is important to look at family life as a whole. She says both partners have to give their time, effort and, in many cases, income for the good of the family.

"If your marriage is equal, holistically, in what you contribute it makes very little difference as to who's earning more money."

Much of the discussion about income has focused on one person in the marriage earning more than the other. But Emily Mendell says that good marriages bring together the skills and ideas that make a family work.

"I think the best marriages do that on equal footing across the board even though in certain areas one person may be contributing more than others."

She likes to point out that cooking is not one of the skills that she brings to the family. Luckily, her husband Dave has that covered.