There is also, in social security policy, a 'cohabitation rule': a woman who lives with a
man and has a sexual relationship with him is often assumed on that basis alone to rely on
him financially. The rule is worth considering in a little more detail. A couple who are 'living
together as man and wife' are taken as sharing financial resources if they are members of
the same household; the relationship is a stable one; they have children; if they share
finances; they have a sexual relationship; or their relationship is like that of husband and
wife in other (undefined) ways.