The Effect of the Wife's Employment on the Family Power Structure

Abstract

Secondly, the association found between the number of children in the family and the husband's influence in decision-making raises an interesting possibility: Not only may the work status of the wife affect the degree of her influence in family decision-making, but conversely, at least for this sample of Roman Catholics, her relative influence may also indirectly affect her work status. We may first presume that among principled Roman Catholics the teachings of the Church concerning birth control are faithfully followed. This fact would imply that the only means of birth limitation available to these couples is that which can be obtained through the method. If the periodic sexual abstinence required by the rhythm method is more irksome to the husband than to the wife, then it should follow that the requisite restraint in sexual relations might be most likely to occur in those families where the wife in general had the greater influence in family decision-making. Therefore, families in which the wife had the greater influence would tend to have the fewer number of children. Having fewer children, the wife could more easily enter the labor force. Thus, not only would the wife's work status exert an effect on her relative influence in decision-making but the reverse chain of causation would exist as well. Further research is needed to continue the exploration of these possibilities.