This study surveyed family life in different regions of the Republic of Ireland. A sample of Irish couples was chosen by the Catholic Marriage Advisory Council for the purposes of examining marriage and family life, and asked to complete a survey. Individuals (N=216) were asked to classify their marriage style as either traditional or egalitarian based on a description of each provided in the research instrument. Traditional was defined as: decisions are made separately or independently by husband or wife; husband earns family income; wife cares for the home and children; wife has more responsibility for the emotional needs of the family. Egalitarian was defined as: decisions are made equally by both partners; total sharing of labor; equality of careers; equality of choice concerning lifestyle; negotiation is a major part of the relationship. Seventy-two percent of the individuals identified their relationship as egalitarian and 28 percent identified their relationship as traditional. Those reporting as traditional had much higher levels of disagreement and conflict in their marriages than those reporting as egalitarian. Although it is generally assumed that egalitarian marriages include more conflict, due to the open nature of these relationships, this did not appear to be the case for this population. It is not a traditional or egalitarian marital style which predicted marital satisfaction for women. Instead, women who worked outside the home tended to have greater marital satisfaction. This supports previous research which claims that power in marital relationships is distributed not only by gender, but by economic earnings. (LLL)