Who Has the Power? The Marital Struggle

Psychological, legal and social blocks are placed in the way of women. These structural blocks affect the marital power distribution. Sources of marital power (socialization, the marriage contract, income, occupational prestige, organizational participation, education, suburbanization, the family life-cycle, physical coercion) are examined and are found to affect the power distribution in white-collar and blue-collar, black and white families. Women are structurally blocked from gaining as much power as their husbands from these sources. Data points to the conclusion that the differences in marital power are not due to individual resources or personal competence of the partners, but to the discrimination against women in the larger societt. Husbands gain power in marriage as a class, not as individuals, and women are blocked as a class, not as individuals. The equalitarian family as a norm is a myth.