Analysing patriarchy capitalism and women's employment in Europe

Variations in inequality between men and women across European countries might best be understood by examining how the capitalist market, liberal democratic state and growth of rational reflexivity systematically undermines a range of pre‐existing patriarchal social orders, creating a more egalitarian sexual division of labour. The expansion of women's employment, initially promoted by the long post‐war boom has been central in accelerating this process. Such an analysis also resolves some problems in gender theory, by suggesting that the origins of the concept of gender lie paradoxically in men's attempt to legitimate their patriarchal rights from the new challenge posed by modernity.