The Isolation of Men and the Happiness of Women: Sources and Use of Power in Swahili Marital Relationships

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Abstract
In the Swahili marital relationship husbands' almost complete ability to control is based on clearly formulated and shared religious beliefs and values and in their being the family source of money. On the same basis wives have virtually no recognized power outside the domestic sphere, yet they are able to get substantial sums from their husbands for purposes important only to the wives. The ability of wives to do this is rooted in the fact that for men actually to use their culturally provided power they must have a personal resource--emotional independence from their wives--whose social and cultural basis is very weak.

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