Equal Partnerships in marriage

I've been reading take back your marriage by Fowler and came across some great stuff about equality that I wanted to share with all of you today.

 Fowler said “the full measure of intimacy in marriage requires husbands and wives to be equal.”. The gospel principle that drives this virtue comes from the scripture first Corinthians 11:11  “Nevertheless neither is the man without the woman, neither the woman without the man, in the Lord.” This helps to show that man and woman are equal. They each play a part in the worth of each other.  There was an example of a marriage that was described in the book of a couple that split everything down the middle perfectly equally. Groceries, chores, time with children were exactly equal between each other. It would seem that this example of a marriage would be doing well because they are so just and equal with each other. That was not the case. This marriage was having serious marriage problems. This couple had to learn to trust each other and to relax about having everything equal.

Flowers says “Spouses who have confidence in the fairness of their arrangements generally perceive justice in their relationships in a global way and do not need to struggle over their equality on a daily basis.” This to me means that they don’t have to be so detailed about their equality. Only more as a general sense.

Examples that a marriage could apply this virtue of justice could come in many ways. One way is having separate but equal responsibility. The husband could be the one that provides for the family financially. That is a very big responsibility. The wife could take care of the children which is regarded by many as an equal responsibility but just different. If the couple doesn’t have children, the wife could still take care of the house or make dinner for themselves. That is also a big responsibility.