The Politics of the Home: How Family Labour Division, Patriarchy, and Kinship Reproduce Gender Inequality

This paper examines the family as a pivotal site in the production and reproduction of gender inequality. Tracing origins, continuation, and intergenerational transmission, it argues that household labour division and entrenched gender norms, which are rooted in biological determinist narratives, establish the initial asymmetry of roles. Contemporary dual-earner arrangements, while more common, often produce only superficial change: women continue to shoulder unpaid domestic and care work, generating a double burden. The essay locates the persistence of inequality in the dialectical relationship between patriarchy and economic dependence, drawing on Marxist and feminist frameworks (notably Mies) to show how unpaid domestic labour underpins capitalist reproduction and reinforces male dominance. Finally, it explores kinship structures and intersectional dimensions (class, race, and coloniality) and proposes queer kinship as a disruptive modality that can contest heteronormative inheritance of gendered labour. The study synthesises theory and empirical findings to offer conceptual and practical pathways towards substantive equality.