Social inequality among women

Abstract

Women have been largely ignored in stratification studies. This thesis considers the theoretical and practical problems associated with incorporating women into stratification models, and the related problem of whether the individual, the family or the household should be the basic unit in stratification studies. The conclusion drawn is that in discussion of class, in the economic sense, the household is the appropriate unit but where status differences are under discussion it may be acceptable or preferable to have the individual as the basic unit. It is further suggested that status differences may be of greater significance to women than to men. Inequalities among women in the economic, relational and normative spheres of stratification are considered, using the results of a survey of a sample of women in Wellington. The women were divided into three social classes and the results indicate that differences between classes are sufficiently great to make unity among women unlikely. They also suggest that the factors which divide women are similar in kind, if not in relative importance to those which divide men and families.