US government statistics show that women in 35 per cent of professional dual-income homes are now making more than their husbands. That proportion was only 28 per cent five years ago.

Maddy Dychtwald, a Californian demographer, attributed the trend – affecting professions such as lawyers and doctors - to a combination of employers being more amenable towards women staff, declining birth rates and the US recession's comparatively light impact on female workers.

Ms Dychtwald said it also helped that younger men were less bothered than previous generations about the idea of their wives out-earning them.

They were also more interested on spending time with their family and less obsessed with work, she said.

Some experts counter that employers will still favour men to women with children because they feel they are more committed to their job.