What does an Egalitarian Marriage Looks Like?

Similar to life, marriage does not have a strict definition of how matrimony should be structured. The ideology of a union between two individuals is a process where the two individuals agree to spend their life together in a partnership that has shared decisions and opinions. It is in these two factors that different marriage types emerge.

As much as there is no defined guide of how married people should live, society has, in most cases, adopted biblical scriptures to guide couples in the journey of holy matrimony. The scripture helps to lessen the burden of life between spouses and the unbiblical burdens on women. In an Egalitarian marriage, several dynamics set out to define a union to be under this classification, with significant differentiation from another type of marriage being under the concept of headship and the conflict in terms of biblical stipulations on this kind of marriage.

What Is An Egalitarian Marriage?

Under the Egalitarian marriage, the husband and wife are viewed to be of equal status, and they both have a commitment to their families and jobs, which also translates to an equal share of their family responsibilities and earnings. Equality is the cornerstone for an Egalitarian marriage. It causes a chain reaction on many families and life aspects both within and outside with more reference to employment and wages.

In short, an Egalitarian union is one whereby the partners have an equal share of the burden, benefits, and responsibilities. The subtopic that follows focuses on how egalitarian marriages look and how you can tell if you are in this kind of marriage.

What Does An Egalitarian Marriage Looks Like?

In modern society, most couples with children under eighteen have both the wife and husband working. It means that there is an equal flow of financial responsibilities that are shared among the married. Additionally, most of the young couples find themselves sharing responsibilities when it comes to the commitment of doing laundry, dishes, taking the kids to school, who pays school fees, and who has a claim to the house.

The characteristics of an Egalitarian marriage concerning the head of the family, decision making, parenting, behavior, and household work are some of the cultures that change to fit this type of marriage.

Here is how an egalitarian marriage looks like.

Head Of The Family

The topic of the family head in marriage has two parts that greatly define the responsibility. The first is in earning commitment, and the second is in decision-making responsibility. In an egalitarian marriage, you will find that the man is no longer the bearer of these responsibilities, but the roles are shared equally with the wife.

Behavior Roles

Unlike in other marriages, the role of a man and woman are strictly identified with the gender of the person in an egalitarian marriage; two functions have transformed into a responsive dynamic.

Egalitarian marriages band on the complete transformation of the roles of both man and wife, and the man can perform functions that were initially allocated to women, and the wife can also perform the functions of a man if she is in the capacity. The value in this kind of marriage has been given broader boundaries and higher assimilation, whereby the wife or husband is not more superior to the other, but both are equals.

Decision Making

The decisions involved in marriage will often be how you should run the family, whether or not the family should move to a new location, and other financial issues like investments. Unlike different kinds of weddings, these decisions are pondered over by both the husband and the wife in an egalitarian marriage. The two have equal rights to their opinions where it is seen in other unions the partner with the most financial income is the one who calls the short or the man.

This kind of marriage, when it comes to decisions making is not held by the constraints of gender or head of the family, but it is dependent on the employment, the age of the two, whether or not you have kids, and lastly, the requirements of the kids based on their ages. 

Parenting

Parenting has dramatically been considered the wife's role, but in an egalitarian marriage, the husband takes on some of these roles. In this case, it might mean that the husband takes on a paternity break from work. Some of the functions that a husband is expected to perform in this kind of marriage regarding parenting include: helping their child with homework, taking the child to cocurricular classes like dance, changing the child's diapers, and staying up all night when the child is sick. As a result, raising a kid is no longer solely the responsibility of the mother.

Household Work

The tasks under a household can include: mowing the lawn, cleaning around the house, including the parking space, fixing broken items, and other charges. The tasks that societies view as the husband’s and the others regarded as the wife’s have been merged to be the partners' responsibility and either of them can perform these tasks.

Difference Between Traditional And Egalitarian Marriages

The main difference between the two kinds of marriages is probably seen in the tasks and responsibilities performed by the ether of the partners. In an egalitarian union, the husband tends to perform and share household tasks that in traditional marriages were designated to the wife. The man performs more functions in an egalitarian marriage than those counterparts in a traditional wedding.

Secondly, egalitarian marriage may see the wife perform more masculine tasks and less feminine tasks. Traditional unions have the woman performing most of the functions, even those of a man when they are not available, but you must strike a balance in this modern kind of marriage.

Lastly, traditional marriages held less happiness for the wife since the husband has traditional views. Still, in an egalitarian marriage, the husband is strongly associated with the marital satisfaction of his wife.

Final Thoughts

Egalitarian marriage seeks to add to the quality of the union. It breaks down the traditional authoritative types of partnerships and relationships since both partners are also pursuing a career, the kind of life independent on a support system between the two where roles and responsibilities are shared. There is less pressure placed on either of them.