Kay Hegarty has always made more money than her husband, John, has.
When the Shueyville couple first entered the work force she as a certified public accountant and he as a high school science teacher the difference in their incomes wasn’t substantial.
Over the years, though, she’s made partner and enjoyed the raises that came with promotions along the way. The state hasn’t been as generous to its teachers.
In 26 years of marriage, their financial situation has been a topic of conversation on only a few occasions, always because someone else brought it up.
“Others have mentioned it to us as if we should be uncomfortable,” said Kay Hegarty, 49.
“They weren’t being critical. They weren’t intending to be offensive and rude. It makes me pause only because it doesn’t occur to me. It’s almost like they pointed out to me that the sky has clouds today,” Hegarty said.
More than 30 years after women entered the workplace en masse, they’re now out-enrolling men in colleges and sometimes out-earning their husbands in a fourth of American households in which both spouses work, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
