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Are We There Yet? Gender and Equality in Couple Relationships

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Gender and Couple Relationships

Part of the book series: National Symposium on Family Issues ((NSFI,volume 6))

Abstract

In this concluding chapter, we look back at the perspectives and evidence put forth during Penn State’s 22nd Annual Symposium on Family Issues and in this volume, and reflect on some of the questions that were at the heart of the discussion: How have marriage and couple relationships changed for men and women? How could they be better? What do changes in marriage and couple relationships mean for policymakers and researchers? We conclude that marriage is still a gendered institution, though not as much as when Jessie Bernard demonstrated that marriage was better for men than for women in her 1972 book The Future of Marriage. We also find that historical changes in the gendered benefits of marriage and couple relationships are shaped by race/ethnicity, class, and sexual identity. We argue that, in order for marriage to continue to improve for both men and women, policy shifts and research must address the needs of individuals from diverse backgrounds.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Sociology, The Pennsylvania State University, 203 Oswald Tower, University Park, PA, 16802, USA

    Cadhla McDonnell

  2. Department of Human Development and Family Studies, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA, 16802, USA

    Rose Wesche

Authors
  1. Cadhla McDonnell
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  2. Rose Wesche
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Cadhla McDonnell .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Social Science Research Institute, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, Pennsylvania, USA

    Susan M. McHale

  2. Department of Sociology and Criminology, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, Pennsylvania, USA

    Valarie King

  3. Population Research Institute, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, Pennsylvania, USA

    Jennifer Van Hook

  4. Department of Sociology and Criminology, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, Pennsylvania, USA

    Alan Booth

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© 2016 Springer International Publishing Switzerland

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McDonnell, C., Wesche, R. (2016). Are We There Yet? Gender and Equality in Couple Relationships. In: McHale, S., King, V., Van Hook, J., Booth, A. (eds) Gender and Couple Relationships. National Symposium on Family Issues, vol 6. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-21635-5_15

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