a number of stories this week have considered women’s employment and earning patterns.  Katrin Bennhold’s piece in the New York Timeson employed  mothers, “In Germany, A Tradition Falls, and Women Rise,” is the first of a series in the Times and the International Herald Tribune  examining “the female factor,” or “where women stand in the early 21st century.”    One answer to that question comes in a study just released by the Pew Research Center on “The New Economics of Marriage: The Rise of Wives.” The story has been widely picked up in the media: a Times piece by Sam Roberts is here; a Washington Post article by Donna St. George is here; and a story by Jennifer Ludden for NPR is here.