Power in Marriage

When we started to talk about marriage in class and the division of powers I automatically thought about my own family and how my parents handle all their stresses and power struggles. I guess for me I've never actually seen my parents have a fight more than arguing over some menial subject. They were always very loving towards each other and never got into any heated battles, which in society today can be very rare. My parents share a lot of the power, but all in all my father defers his power to my mother. My mother makes a lot of the money in our family, but my father is the solid ground we walk on. We have always been taught about authority and respect through my father's actions, but my mother would be the one we would go to if we had a question about whether we could or could not do anything. My mother has often said that if we ever wanted anything go to my father because if we could afford it he would give us kids the world. He does that now even if we can't afford what we want. My mother is the level headed person in the family who really wants us to be comfortable financially. My mother grew up in a lower income family with 6 kids. She was taught to work hard for everything she wanted. She had a job at 14 to pay for the catholic school she was told she had to go to. She worked all through college and became a very successful pharmacist. I really respect my mother and am blessed that she went through all of this just so she was sure she could give her kids the life she never had. My father was spoiled and got a lot of what he wanted being the first boy born into a family of 10 children. He let's my mother make the decisions I'm guessing because he's never had to really make a lot of the decisions in his life. He is a hard worker as a farmer and does his best to provide us with the life they want us to have. I see that they work together to get all us kids on the right path. They normally discuss the decisions they make before the final say, but my mother always seems to have a bigger say in the matter. They do agree on most things though and often meet in the middle which is why, in my opinion, they've been together over 30 years