New Trend: The Demise of the Trophy Wife

LONDON, Jan. 16, 2007— -- This is the latest dispatch from a battlefield where casualties are counted in the millions each year.

Most wars, including -- it's hoped -- the one in Iraq, end eventually. But this conflict thunders on and on and on throughout the centuries. The only things that change are the weapons, the tactics and the cost of losing a battle. It's the war of the sexes. And it has just taken another fascinating twist.

According to a newly published British-based economics study, the trophy wife -- that controversial symbol of success and prowess for men with money, also known as the domestic goddess -- could soon become a thing of the past.

David Blackaby, a professor of economics at Swansea University in South Wales, United Kingdom, told ABC News: "What we are seeing now is assorted mating, which is 'like' marrying 'like.' For example, get-up-and-go men are more inclined these days to marry get-up-and-go women. People are also marrying people from the same skill groups."

That means more and more men are marrying women with whom they have something basic, something postmodern, in common. They both earn salaries. So, according to the study, the gender pay gap is closing.

In the 1970s, according to the study, for every 1,000 hours worked, men were paid 45 percent more than women were. By the year 2002 women had narrowed the gap and men were, on average, making 25 percent more then their female counterparts. Also, by the 1980s, 50 percent of married women held salaried jobs, and by the mid '90s, 70 percent of married women had careers outside the home.

The study suggests there are fewer and fewer stay-at-home wives, and the ranks of those so-called trophy wives are getting thinner and thinner. The possible reasons for this may tell us something about the current state of the war of the sexes.

Blackaby told ABC News: "The reason for the change from the '80s is that women are taking advantage of less discrimination in the workplace. Family size has reduced, so women don't need as much time off for childbearing. And those who work continuously know that they can achieve pay equality if they don't take time off. Nannies are being employed, and the children are being sent to private schools."