Spousal employment tends to better marital quality and increase marital stability among Indian couples

Abstract

Research shows that at the global level, there has been an increased influx of women into the job market since 1970s, a phenomenon that may be called a kind of gender revolution. Since heterosexual marriage relies a lot on successful negotiation of additional responsibilities shouldered by the wife in a society marked by breadwinner-homemaker model of family, it seems a prudent exercise to study the impact of spousal employment on marital quality. This article tries to investigate the trend form an Indian perspective taking into account the various ways in which marital quality and its constituent dimensions are related to spousal employment. The key findings suggest that wives’ employment tends to increase both marital quality and marital stability among Indian couples.