Citation

Davidson C, Davidson VMT. Sex Roles 1977; 3(5): 459-467.

Copyright

(Copyright © 1977, Holtzbrinck Springer Nature Publishing Group)

DOI

10.1007/BF00287410

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

A widely accepted view describes gender-role inequality as less prevalent among the middle class than the working class. Gender-role inequality within the intact nuclear family is asserted to be a syndrome characterized by unequal husband--wife authority, rigid division of household labor, and greater freedom in leisure pursuits for the husband. This view is generally unsupported by the findings of the present study, a secondary analysis of a sample survey conducted in Houston in 1969-1970. Two classes (working and middle) were compared, with ethnicity (Anglo, Black, Mexican-American) and sex controlled. Questionnaire items concerned leisure-time freedom for wives, gender differences in children's socialization, and sexual division of labor in the household. Differences between groups were generally small and inconsistent. In some cases, sexual and ethnic differences were greater than those of class. An intercorrelation matrix revealed few significant correlations between egalitarian responses to the various items, suggesting that egalitarianism or its opposite is not a syndrome.