Marriage.com.au: Resources for Healthy Marriages

According to a study conducted in the U.S., women are more likely to think that they can have more satisfying lives without marriage.* This finding seems to be consistent with the finding that in Australia, women are more likely to initiate a divorce. Our culture puts an enormous burden on women to perform. On one hand, women are expected to perform a mothering role, and on the other they are expected to succeed in their careers. On top of this there is an enormous pressure to look sexually attractive.

This has had two main effects:

1. Women feel exhausted.

2. Men feel unneeded, and inadequate.

We need to get real about the role of men and women in marriage. As men we need to protect, provide for, and honor our wives, and take some of this burden off their shoulders. As women we need to support, nurture and comfort our husbands, and show them that they are needed, respected, and honored.

We also need to forget about the idea that the satisfaction we feel in our lives has anything to do with marriage. Both men and women can be satisfied without being married. The purpose of marriage isn't to provide satisfaction. Satisfaction is often a great side-effect though.

*See Kaufman, G. & Goldscheider,F. (2007). Do men need a spouse more than women? perceptions of the importance of marriage for men and women. The Sociological Quarterly, 48, 29-46.

Do women really need marriage?