Status and income as gendered resources: The case of marital power

This article examines marital power dynamics in couples in which wives earn more than their husbands, work in higher status occupations, or both to determine if wives with resource advantages are able to exercise greater power in their relationships than wives in more conventional marriages. The results do not bear out this hypothesis. This article argues that the logic of resource and exchange theories breaks down when women bring more money and status to the marital relationship. This suggests that the balance of marital power is more closely related to gender than to income or status. This article examines what Komter (1989) calls the hidden power in marriage and highlights how these couples do gender in ways that reinforce the husband's power.