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- Title
WHY BE A WIFE?
- Authors
Burkitt, Brian; Rose, Hilary
- Abstract
This article focuses on one of the campaigns launched within the women's liberation movement called "why be a wife?" This seeks to expose the economic, legal and political dependence of married women. Such a view contrasts sharply with the contemporary stereotype of marriage, which holds that no man is ever voluntarily married and no woman ever remains voluntarily unmarried. Indeed the rising divorce and remarriage statistics have frequently been taken to imply that marriage has never been so popular. These conflicting perspectives impelled the researchers to study the British data concerning the length of time spent in marriage by men and women, which could be interpreted as an indicator of the differential benefits derived by men and women from the matrimonial relation. While the explanation of the gender disparity in remarriage rates lies largely in the growing gap through mortality between the number of men and women at higher ages, this process is intensified by the tendency for men to choose marriage partners from a younger age cohort.
- Subjects
CIVIL rights movements; FEMINISM; MARRIED women; DIVORCE; REMARRIAGE; GENDER inequality
- Publication
Sociological Review, 1981, Vol 29, Issue 1, p67
- ISSN
0038-0261
- Publication type
Article
- DOI
10.1111/j.1467-954X.1981.tb03023.x