A new Elle/msnbc.com survey says we have a sea change in the dynamics of home economics. Not only do men want women to financially contribute to the marriage, but a vast majority of them say they wouldn’t mind if their spouse was the major bread winner in the family. 

Since the time of “Leave it to Beaver” we have been conditioned to believe that men wanted to have the bigger paycheck but the survey of nearly 74,000 men and woman found just 12 percent of men said they would mind if their spouse made more than them. The researchers also found that most couples felt the person with the bigger paycheck should not have more control over how that money was spent. “I think men are looking for partners. I don’t think they’re looking to dominate,” said Janet Lever, a sociology professor at California State University in Los Angeles who spearheaded the Elle/msnbc.com study.    However, money remains a relatively common source of marital conflict, with about half of the couples saying they fight about money at least once a month. Couples also said that big money fights rarely lead to steamy makeup sex — or to one spouse being shut out of the bedroom.

But that balance in breadwinning doesn’t always lead to balance in housework. More than 40 percent of the women say they do more housework, and 29 percent of the men agree. “The male ego as head of household seems to have diminished to the point of disappearance,” said Rosanna Hertz, chair of women’s studies at Wellesley College and one of the researchers involved in the Elle/msnbc.com study. “However, men are still dragging their feet in terms of domestic responsibilities.”