Women's Work and Theories of Class Stratification

Most stratification studies exclude from the scope of their analysis the study of inequalities based on the division of labour between women and men. In this paper an attempt is made to identify ambiguities which arise from the ad hoc treatment of this issue in the literature, at both individual and aggregate levels of analysis. A systematic approach to the problem requires reconsideration of the assumption that the class position of the family is determined by the occupation of the male head of household. Evidence on the inadequacy of this assumption for the analysis of occupational stratification in contemporary Britain is presented. It is unnecessary to adopt a multi-dimensional approach to stratification or to treat women as a distinct `class'. But it is essential to examine the collective effects of women's employment on the occupational system. This in turn requires consideration of the processes by which women's work in the household and labour force articulate. The analysis of inequalities based on gender can be integrated with the study of class-based inequalities if a dynamic approach, one which focuses on the causes and effects of changes in the occupational division of labour, is adopted.