Quality of Marriage Today

          Marriage today is very different from that of even a few years ago, it wouldn't even be recognized by people who lived a few hundred years ago, but that does not mean it is any better or worse. Many factors contribute to this opinion, anything from lifestyle comparisons to income and career comparisons. Most things that were stressful on marriages in older times are not even a passing thought now, but we have new issues to make up for these lost stressors.
          Take for example the old traditional role of a man and woman, the woman would clean and take care of her children while the man left the home to provide for the family. This would cause much stress on the relationship simply because of the lack of available time for interfamily socializing, as well as heavy workload. Today we have independent women working to financially support their families, along with the men, while the children are sent off to daycare. This produces many of the stressors as it used to: Less family time, and a heavy work load when you get home and the laundry is not done. You could also take into consideration the old divorce taboos. Before the modern change in mentality, it was socially unacceptable to divorce someone even if abuse was part of the equation. Not being able to divorce meant an obligation to a potentially abusing spouse who might be having an affair, permanently. Now that divorce is acceptable we don't have the pressure to stay in a relationship of such discord, however we do have the stress of prenuptial agreements and custody, along with a long list of other separation anxieties. Yet again trading one stressor for another.
          I'm sure that the list of examples could go to compile a nice thick essay, but I think that these two examples are quite illuminating and provide sufficient evidence to back up my point: Marriage quality has simply not changed. As with many other retro-modern comparisons we simply trade one evil for another. The quality of life in general might be drastically better now, but are we as fulfilled now as we were when we had to create our own shelter and food? Or was it worth it to trade self sufficient life (before the superstore explosion) for a life of wages and shopping, being controlled by the economy and world trade? These questions along with the one I've dealt with in this essay all have the same answer to me. Nothing has changed, we are just under the false impression that we are free of the medieval ball-and-chain.