In the Home, Women Have More Power

July 17, 2007 — -- Behind every powerful man is a more powerful woman.

New research gives this old adage a boost. A study published by a group of researchers from Iowa State University found that women were more likely to flex their figurative muscle during arguments — and men were more likely to give in.

"The surprising finding was that women were exhibiting more power, and men were responding in positive ways," said David Vogel, associate professor of psychology at ISU and lead author of the research study. "It wasn't a power struggle for these couples."

Vogel and his colleagues looked at 72 couples from Iowa who volunteered for the study. The spouses were about 33 years old and had been married, on average, for seven years.

Unlike previous studies, this one measured power at home on three fronts: professional life and finances, attempts to gain control in the relationship and ultimately getting one's way.

As it turns out, even with a nearly even balance of socioeconomic power between both partners, wives made more attempts to gain control during arguments. Moreover, they were often better at getting their husbands to give in than vice versa.

"The person with more power was the one who did the more demanding, was more likely to talk about the problem and push for a change to happen," Vogel said. "The other person was responding to this in a positive way."

The ISU study shatters an idea that has become popular in the last decade, known as the social structure theory.

This hypothesis asserts that the power in a marriage is shifted in favor of the husband.

Because of this imbalance, the theory suggests that wives are more demanding — they seek change more often because they need their husbands to cooperate. Men, on the other hand, are more likely to withdraw — they have more power, and therefore, can get what they need without the help of their wives.

In the new study, however, researchers found that almost half of the couples were equal in status — and in those that weren't, the difference between husband and wife was too small to be meaningful.