Inequalities in Marriage

Abstract

Women and men typically experience different rights and responsibilities in marriage, in spite of widespread beliefs in marital equality. These differences led sociologist Jesse Bernard (1972) to coin the phrase “his and her marriages.” Gender‐based patterns of marital inequality have existed historically in the US and other western nations, though they have declined somewhat in recent decades, and they persist in other parts of the globe, as well. For various reasons, which will be outlined below, there are systematic gender differences in the amount and type of domestic labor and family care performed by spouses, in power and authority in marital‐decision making, in access to and control over household resources, and likelihood of experiencing severe injury as a result of spousal violence. Gender‐based inequalities continue after divorce, characterizing property settlements and custody arrangements as well as the relative economic circumstances of former spouses.