There is a Christian line of thought and Biblical support for it, that the man should be the Head of the Household but that comes with the obligation ti put the family and his wife's needs ahead of his own.

You presume because people are selfish, the person making the decisions is always the "beneficiary", but that is the opposite of what the Bible teaches. How can a woman "trust" a man, who thinks of himself ahead of her... how can a man "trust" a woman who puts herself first.

Now if want to argue that many men fail in their responsibility to love their wives enough to put them first, I won't disagree with you. But that is a different issue.

But because Christians have a built in mechanism for conflict resolution which if adhered to works as evidenced by the far lower divorce rate among practicing Christians, it works far better than you presume.

Not surprisingly, Christian wives reported being substantially happier than non Christian wives. Something that triggered an uproar when the New York Times reported the study... how can it be?

Again the simple reality is that most people do not understand "the deal". Sadly, Christian men sometimes fail to understand "the deal". "The deal" is simple you get to make the final decision, if you put your wife's needs ahead of your own in making that decision... that is "the deal". And the first step is to listen to her needs.

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/05/18/opinion/sunday/happy-marriages.html/

The element missing in your analysis is "love". If a man truly loves his wife, her happiness means more to him than his own. There are times when for one reason or other, he has to decide to disappoint her, but when that happens he should search his soul to be sure, that he is convinced that it is for the sake of the family and not himself that he is doing so.

But it is clear you don't understand "the deal". If you are prepared to put a spouse's needs ahead of your own, I suspect they would be happy to let you make the final decision. But are you unselfish enough for that? And if not, how do you plan to resolve differences with a spouse when there is no "middle options"... flip a coin...

I can see it now... what state should we live in California or Texas... heads California... tails Texas... seriously?