Given that society still finds it difficult to fully accept families with a female earner and a male partner who doesn't work, I can only imagine what it was like for female breadwinners in previous generations. Nina, 60, is now retired and has three grown-up children. While her husband has been the main breadwinner of the family for most of their married life, there was a period in the 1980s when the couple lived on Nina's income alone. “In 1983, when I was in my mid-20s and newly married, we had the opportunity to leave the UK to live in Spain for two years as I had been offered a job there,” she explains. At that time, Spain was not a member of the EU (then known as the Common Market) and there was less freedom of movement, making it difficult to get a work permit. Nina was granted one because of the nature of her job but her husband did not meet the criteria. “Luckily my generous salary was enough for us both to live well on,” she tells me. “Before we left the UK I had to fill in paperwork at the Spanish consulate and sign an agreement to support my husband financially. The official that dealt with us was incredulous and openly scornful. 'So. You intend to live off your wife?' he asked, mockingly. This was fairly typical of the attitude at the time. We were both happy with the arrangement but met with some judgmental reactions from others.” Having been both the breadwinner and the supported half of a couple, Nina noticed a significant difference in people's attitudes when it was her husband's turn to support her. “People have not been so openly judgmental when it is the other way around! I'd like to think that society is more open-minded in 2017 but I suspect that, if you scratch the surface, the same disdainful attitude exists towards men who are financially supported by their wives.”