Gender relations and power dynamics

Family life looks private, but it is organised by power: who decides spending, whose work counts, who controls sexuality and reproduction, and who can leave a marriage. Gender relations inside the household are therefore inseparable from property, law, religion and the labour market. For example, a woman may earn an income yet still need permission to spend it, showing that earning alone does not equal authority. This chapter examines gender and power, sexuality and reproduction, and how feminist sociology reads the family as both care and control.