Throughout the past generations, including my parent’s the family was defined as a traditional (patriarchal) relationship, where the male was the breadwinner and the female was the caretaker of the home and family. My generation has seen the materialization of what Pepper Schwartz describes a “peer marriage.” Peer marriage is different from the traditional marriage in four key ways: men and women regard each other as full social equals, they both have careers, the partners share equal rights in decision making regarding finances, and compared to the past “traditional relationship” the male plays a greater role in the responsibility of raising the children (299). Pepper Schwartz’s research is trying to show the benefits of a egalitarian marriage, by saying that it offers the family more stability and that it may prove to be more durable when it is challenged by the contemporary culture and other social pressures. She suggests that when couples are able to function as a team when it comes to money issues or household issues they can achieve a better emotional compatibility. She also states that when a woman is working outside of the home she becomes a more interesting partner, she brings in new ideas into the family life. She also goes further to state that “...even though income creates independence and therefore opportunities for separation, the recognition that spouses would lose their mutually constructed lifestyle if the marriage ended has its own stabilizing effect” (302). Schwartz is saying that even thought that women would be more financially independent allowing them the opportunity to leave the marriage (a barrier that women had faced in the past, when trying to leave a relationship), their financial contribution offers enough of a stabilizing factor to the point that they do not need or want to leave the marriage. Looking at this aspect from a male’s perspective o...
