What a wonderful topic. I'm new to this board and immediately siezed on this thread--very refreshing. Without quoting everyone's preceeding posts, many good points were made. Yes, our society has changed considerably since 1950 in terms of the norms for man/woman relationships; changed for the better in some respects, and in others for the worse. For instance, a working wife is no longer abnormal
, however a woman dominating her husband is now acceptable
. If we're looking to define man/woman roles as they relate to marriage, then I propse that marriage be equated to a contract. Contracts outline the conditions for compliance from both parties--as clinical and cold as that may sound. These terms are the expectations, or roles for the man and the woman. Marriages that fail normally do so because 1) both parties did not have the same contract in mind, or 2) one of the parties failed to meet the terms of the contract (a breach of contract). So to sum up my little rant, agreed upon roles MUST exist for the relationship to work. As for my personal relationship framework ideal, the man is the head and I defer to him. That doesn't mean I throw my brain and equality out the door; but not unlike a corporation or military chain of command, the final decision needs to be made by
one individual else compromise the integrity of the body.