Marital power play in patriarchal society, a qualitative study of Ghanaian religious wives' perspectives

Abstract

Abstract In many traditional marriages, power dynamics have historically revolved around the husbands' authority. This study was designed under the phenomenological structure within the qualitative approach framework to examine how women scramble for power in marriage. The study aims to investigate the wives' subjective realities concerning the tools they use to attain greater agency in marriage. A total of 55 married women who have been married for at least three years and lived in the Bosomtwe District of Ghana were purposely selected and interviewed. The study adopted the principle, Least Interest of Exchange Theory, which stipulates that the party with the greater interest in social exchange outcome also has less power in negotiations and is likely to be influenced no matter how rich. It was found that wives leverage sex, persuasive communication, affection, love, and intimacy during the household production process to affirm their referent power to overcome husbands’ coercive and positional power in marriage. The conclusion was that wives in a patriarchal society are likely to gain more control within the marriage by utilizing appealing sexual strategies, persuasive communication, and enhancing their educational attainment. The study recommended that marital laws in a patriarchal society like Ghana could consider how poor women would be resilient to attain greater agency in marriage.

Keywords

• Marriage
• Marital power
• Power play