Being Married, Doing Gender

Book excerpt: In one of the first psychological studies of women in heterosexual relationships, Caroline Dryden examines the social context of their experiences and emotional struggles. Unlike the developmental literature in which women are studied only as mothers, or the clinical literature which has little theoretical basis, Being Married, Doing Gender places case study material in the context of the power balance between women and men. Caroline Dryden finds that there are contradictions between stereotypical gender roles and the maintenance of an equal partnership that can cause problems for both women and men. Being Married, Doing Gender will be valuable to students studying psychology or gender and women's studies and to marriage guidance counsellors and psychotherapists.