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“[After that book came out] there were a number of feminist academics who really felt like they had to come forward and pound that idea, ‘How dare you say that the end of men is occurring — men still rule, men still oppress, women are still victimized, you’re wrong,’” said Ms. Mundy in an interview. “It seems to me some members of the feminist establishment are actually uneasy when you argue that women are making progress.”

Feminists also skewered her book, in which she interviewed many women who earned more than their husbands but still maintained happy homes. The husbands were more likely to be fine with the reality, relieved of the pressure to provide, she said, although some did indeed feel emasculated. Most often, the breadwinner roles are fluid and temporary, she said, changing when one partner is laid off or a baby is born.

Gillian Ranson, a professor of sociology at the University of Calgary, says she’s never seen the breadwinner woman discussed as much as it was in 2012. While she stresses this is surely not “the end of men,” she agrees that the certain kind of masculinity discussed by Ms. Rosin in her book — the kind that requires men to feel like the foremost providers on whom women must depend — just doesn’t work today.

But, as with many things, the dynamic is more muted in Canada, where the recession didn’t wipe out as many disproportionately male jobs.

“Obviously there’s going to be a growing proportion of women earning more than their partners when opportunities at work for women are increasing, but we need to be careful about how carried away we get” in calling for the end of men, she said. About 29% of women in Canada out-earn their male partners, but it’s usually just by a slight amount. In dual earner households where women out-earn men, the family income is usually much less than in dual income households where the man makes more money, she said.