Power-sharing in lesbian partnerships

This study of 70 lesbian couples explored whether partners who characterized certain aspects of their relationships as equal in power-sharing were similar in age, income, education, and financial assets, while those who viewed their power-sharing as unequal would be dissimilar on these social status variables, and, second, whether or not most lesbian couples considered their relationships as egalitarian. Power-sharing was assessed through a number of questionnaire items, and snowball sampling was utilized. Three types of couples emerged: (a) equal, (b) unequal but in agreement about who had more power, and (c) couples with differing perceptions about power-sharing. The findings indicated that power-sharing arrangements could not be explained by age, income, education, and asset differences between partners. Egalitarianism was the ideal in most relationships, but had not been achieved to the same degree in each of the areas investigated.