Gender divisions and social change

Abstract

This book asks whether gender division of labour which subordinate women need be either universal or inevitable, and whether explanations for these divisions are the product of ethnocentric and male-dominated research and methodology. Nickie Charles looks at the different forms taken by gender divisions within different types of society against the background of different explanations for gender differences and divisions, ranging from sociobiology to marxist-feminist. Attention is also paid to the emergence and development of gender divisions in the wake of social change such as revolution, industrialization and development. Throughout, the book links empirical data to theoretical explanation, using each as a way of illuminating the other.