Kind of what bosky said.
I mean, in general terms, I think that the traditional male/female roles unnecessarily gender-based. There is nothing wrong with the wife being the "breadwinner" and the husband being a "househusband" (in fact, this is my dream and - hopefully- someday will be a reality).
However, these roles are not specific to America; they are found in virtually every society I've ever heard of. I will also say that of all the men and women I've ever known (or even read about), the women are overwhelmingly better suited at running a household than the men are.
Of course, those gender-based roles seem less and less important as divorce rates continue to climb. It doesn't really matter what role a family member plays if there is no entire family.