While the individual explanations behind why heterosexual, married couples distort their earnings may ultimately vary, it's highly likely that some of the pressure is the perceived obligation to conform to more "traditional" gender roles. I surveyed a few married couples informally to see if they could shed some light on why they might misreport their earnings, and I found that many were aware of the societal expectations, but chose not to be influenced by them; however, this was not always the case. For some, they considered misrepresenting their earnings due to feeling like that was what was expected even if they didn't personally agree.