Work is gender segregated, however, and this presumably leads women and men to establish different attitudes, skills, and behaviors. Segregation also often leads to inequality, and feminists have noted that men dominate women in most arenas (i.e., work, politics, home, etc.), and thus violent assaults against wives reflect our patriarchal society's emphasis on men's domination over women" (Meltzer, 2002).
Meltzer also associates the different jobs that may cause violence the household. Physically violent jobs such as police and military use violence as a daily part their routine. Police officers and soldiers are socially permitted to use violence in order to stop violence and this may spillover to their household. Firefighters and explosive experts deal with life threatening situations that can be very stressful. In order to cope with the stress many turn to violence in the home. Although not all police officers, soldiers, firefighters and explosive experts are violent at home, their jobs can be a catalyst to this sort of behavior. It is also interesting to note that these types of jobs are predominantly male and are considered by society as "manly jobs". Male abuse in the household may also stem from the fact that the male is not getting any fulfillment from his job. In order to compensate for this, he turns aggressive to the woman in order to keep the superiority that society has placed on him.
Interesting enough, Meltzer, addresses the violent behavior coming from males who work in predominantly female jobs such as nursing. Nursing, considered an inferior job in the medical world than doctoring, thus predominantly female may force the male nurse to act violent towards women in order to prove his masculinity to them and his male peers. This is similar to the case when a woman in a relationship earns more money than the man. This takes away the patriarchal concept that men are the sole breadwinners and this can lead to the male exercising violence to prove his masculinity (superiority).