The oldest was 53, the youngest was 2, and the breadwinners included a cooper, a watchman, a cabinetmaker, a steamboat steward and a doctor.
Once upon a time, when a father was a breadwinner and a stylist was a person who did hair, jobs were basic.
Deborah Ellis, author of The Breadwinner A book that inspired me is The Great Gilly Hopkins, by American writer Katherine Paterson.
Ms. Cole's only previous film experience was directing "The Breadwinner," a 2007 short documentary about an 8-year-old Afghan boy who supports his family by selling calendars.
Its Web site lists projects including "The Black Tulip" and Ms. Cole's other directorial credit, "The Breadwinner," a 2007 documentary short film also set in Afghanistan.
Leaving behind white-collar security can mean losing your identity as a breadwinner — a "loss of control," as Jackie Alpers of Tucson put it.
In the UK a quarter of women are now their family's main breadwinner – a huge rise since 1969, when the figure was 4%.
"We expected that things would proceed one way — he'd be the primary breadwinner, a successful attorney, and I'd make less money, stay home with the kids, with fiction essentially a lucrative hobby," she says.
"It is no wonder that universal credit has been described as reinforcing the notion of the male breadwinner, a concept that is outdated and totally out of touch with the reality of many modern families.
This involves a male breadwinner, a female homemaker, and biological children.
