AbstractThe nature of role performance and the initiation of such performance in task and emotional activities of marriage was investigated in 120 married couples. Responses to a marital roles questionnaire indicated that task behaviours were not solely a male prerogative as suggested by Bales and Parsons but were subject to either male or female specialisation or no specialisation at all dependent upon the demands of the specific task. Emotional activity, as suggested by Levinger was characterised by mutuality, not female specialisation as in the Bales‐Parsons' view. Initiation of emotional performance was shown to also be a matter of mutuality and not wife specialisation as implied by Levinger. Initiation of task activities did not generally reflect the specialisation evident in performance of such activitie