If you'll look back at graphs of women entering the marketplace, you'll find the huge increases starting in the mid 60’s through the mid 80’s. New find a graph of the inflation rate, and you will see double digits for most of those years.
Families became two earner incomes about the same time that the price of everything doubled. The young two income family people that work for us are (in my opinion) under much more financial pressure than my single earner parents ever were.
A house is a house, a car is a car, food is food. When those things cost twice as much, two incomes just get people back to even. What was lost in this process was the time women had for kids, community, schools, PTA, etc. Unfortunately, society didn't get much for that lost time, and without some kind of major shift, that time will never be regained.
I’m not a woman so obviously take this with a grain of salt - I think many women become surprised when they have kids at how strong the bond is and their desire to be with their children becomes overwhelming. They almost feel guilty about these feelings. Moderm feminism has caused doubt to creep in unfortunately. Women shouldn’t “want” to stay home with their kids. They should want to get back to their careers and shouldn’t feel bad about it at all. When in reality most feel very bad and guilty when they return to work.
My wife has a more “powerful” career than most women. She’s a highly educated and accomplished engineer. She now works for a consulting firm and is an expert in “Lean Manufacturing”. That being said, she’d ditch it all in a heartbeat in order to stay home with our two sons. I don’t think she thought that having our children would have such a profound effect on her. When she hears the occasional pleading of “Don’t go to work mommy! Stay home!”, it’s like a dagger in her heart.