分偶家庭是夫妻為兼顧事業與家庭而分居兩地之空間對策，而船員婚姻與通勤婚姻在形態上是以空間的分隔換取金錢或事業成就，並分別處於此一對策的兩個極端。臺灣在通勤婚姻的研究上，缺乏女性通勤者的經驗，大多以男性通勤者為主要探討對象，且偏重於通勤與子女教養之間的關係，而忽略了女性在其中的主體性。國內對海運從業人員進行的研究則以男性從業人員觀點來探討，缺乏對船員婚姻的討論。故本研究於2008年9月至2009年10月期間，共訪問了10名船員婚姻與通勤婚姻的個案，並採用質化研究方法進行分析，以了解分偶狀態的婚姻抉擇、空間對策、資通訊技術的使用與影響、家務性別的分工轉變以及其對女性個體化的影響。 研究結果發現，在決定分偶型態的婚姻前，女性會搜集相關資訊或他人經驗，以因應未來生活的不確定性，但是這些建立在父權社會主流價值下的資訊與經驗也是造成女性焦慮的來源。夫妻分離之後，情感需求與回應社會的要求是此型態婚姻發展出不同空間對策的原因。而在維繫遠距的親密關係面向上，雖然資通訊技術可帶來時空壓縮的便利性，但在使用上仍存在著階級差異與世代差異。在分偶型態的婚姻中，雖然在家務份量的分配上仍無法平等，但男性負責家務的意願較高。此外，分離也使得雙方的能動性增加，而女性的能動性與個體化之間有正回饋的關係。但不論是船員婚姻或通勤婚姻，都要面臨與子女分離的處境，此種婚姻型態與單親家庭類似，但政府在社會福利與相關援助上，並未顧及此類家庭。本文透過對船員婚姻與通勤婚姻的探討企圖提出婚姻生活的另類選擇，並轉換婚姻原本被視為壓迫女性基地的意義，探討其中女性追求自我實現的方式與其生活實踐。

Split householders may be viewed as a spatial tactic by couples trying to achieve a blance between work and life. Sailing and commuter marriages represent two frontiers of this tactic. The previous studies on commuter marriages in Taiwan have emphasized male experiences and male practices of parenthood, ignoring the subjectivity of female partners. Similarly, studies on seafarers in Taiwan focus on male employees, but not their marriage and families. In order to understand the decision-making process, spatial tactics, the use and influence of Information Communication Technologies, the division of housework and the individuation of women in sailing and commuter marriages, we carried out ten in-depth interviews with women from these marriages through snow-ball sampling methods. We find that these women would find out information and first-hand experience from others before the separation. However, the information and experiences which are constructed on the patriarchal, ”mainstream” values of society make women anxious. During the separation, various types of spatial tactics are applied to respond to the social norms and the emotional needs of couples. Separation enables more mobility for women, and a feedback relationship exists between the mobility and the individuation of the women. In split households, the distribution of housework is still gendered, but the husband would be more willing to take over household matters or share household chores. In either sailing or commuter marriages, parents will face short-term separation from children and will thus not be able to perform certain parental roles during their children's growth due to time constraints. Similar conditions can be found in ”single-parent” families; nevertheless, there is not enough social support, in terms of welfare and family benefits for split households from the public sector.