traditional marriage: definition

A traditional marriage, as I'm using the term in these pages, is a love relationship in which the man takes responsibility for his woman (whether or not they are married) and any children living with them. He makes all the major decisions for the family, after consulting with his wife. The role of the husband and the role of the wife are distinctly different - in all areas of the relationship, including child-rearing.

It's the way families were organized nearly everywhere at least since people started settling into villages - until the 1960's, when many people in the west began to believe that traditional marriage was harmful to women, and proposed the idea of equal power sharing in marriage.

There are many kinds of relationship that fit my definition of traditional marriage. The couple may or may not have taken out a marriage license. They may or may not have children. Their concept of marriage may come from their religion or spiritual practice or from their cultural group or from a book. The woman may or may not work.

But what all of these relationships have in common is that in each of them the woman wants her man to be her leader, her guide.