Philippine E-Journals

Wives’ Voices: The Social Construction of Wifehood among Selected Muslim and Christian Wives in Quiapo, Manila

C Figer | Ruly Cagadas

Discipline: Religion, Sociology, Cultural and Ethnic Studies

 

Abstract:

This interpersonal communication study probes on how Muslim and Christian wives create, express, interpret, and negotiate their communicative interactions with their husbands. It looks at how these wives came to construct the concept of being a wife and how they felt it changed their lives. Grounded on Symbolic Interactionism, Social Construction Theory, and Hermeneutics, the study reveals that Muslim and Christian wives have various aspects of convergence using verbal communication, concept and understanding of their roles as wives, and attitude towards and management of conflict. Husbands and wives defi ne their power positions in marital partnerships through interaction and communication. Thus, a wife who “negotiates” gets more influences, although the issue of religion still dominates connubial affairs.