TYPES OF MARRIAGE LIFE-STYLE: THE PATRIARCHAL MARRIAGE

When two people live together for a long period, married or not and even if they are of the same sex, they need to work out some kind of structure which will enable them to function as a unit. Many marriage ‘experts’ have classified such relationships within marriage in great detail but because of shortage of space we will look here only at the four commonest types.

The patriarchal marriage-This is the most common marriage structure today, even with the tremendous growth of women’s power and influence. In this the woman looks to the man to be the stronger, the breadwinner, the leader (most of the time), the major decision-maker, and so on.

Surveys show that most women want (or have been conditioned into wanting) this type of marriage. Many women go about their lives very much as it suits them for most of the time whilst avoiding direct challenges to their husbands so that they feel patriarchal enough of the time to be happy. Undoubtedly many marriages thrive on this form of behaviour in the woman.

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