Double the Time, Half as Rich

It's All Relative with Dr Eliza Filby · Feb 25, 2026 · 29m

This week on It’s All Relative, I’m unpacking one of the biggest economic shifts of the last 40 years: the rise of the dual-income household, and why it’s no longer a sign of feminist triumph, but financial necessity.We like to tell ourselves a story about progress. More women in professional careers. Greater equality. Higher household earnings. But beneath that narrative lies a quieter, more uncomfortable truth.Two incomes are no longer aspirational. They are structural and essential. The baseline requirement for accessing housing, affording childcare, and maintaining middle-class stability…