The past decade has witnessed a debate in the
literature over the best way to explain patterns of
gender inequality. The central objective of
contributions has been to understand the processes which
underlie differences in the experiences of men and
women. Particular concern is directed at processes which
lead to women's unpaid labour in the home and to their
position vis-a-vis men, in paid employment where they
are found in segregated and low paid occupations.
Theoretical developments range from dual systems
approaches, which try to explain gender by combining a
theory of patriarchy with a Marxist theory of
capitalism, to approaches which argue for a single
integrated explanation of production and reproduction.
This thesis assesses these developments and finds
current understandings lacking in two respects. Firstly,
although there is a recognition of the inadequacy of
Marxist categories in accounting for gender they are,
none the less, given a central place in explanations.
Similarly, variations in the experience of men and women
are often discussed but are rarely incorporated into
theoretical explanations as significant categories. A
large part of the problem stems from the abstract level
at which the development of explanations has been
carried out. The argument presented here is that
advances in theoretical explanation require that the
processes underlying patterns of gendered experience are
properly identified, and that this can only be achieved
by thorough empirical examination of the wider context
in which women labour. Those contributing to the debate
have focused on a few symbolic occurrences in the
nineteenth century such as protective legislation, male
trade union exclusivism and the family wage. In a study
of Dundee, a Scottish textile city, the broader context
of everyday life is explored for women working in the
industry during the late nineteenth century. To begin
with information on wages is matched to occupations
enabling the hierarchy of women's textile jobs to be
established. Dundee provides a unique opportunity to
look at a variety of households, and here the
composition of households from a sample of the 1891
Census is outlined and the distinctive features of those
headed by women are discussed. The structure of
households which emerges from this exercise is related
to the structure of occupations, making it possible to
identify processes of inequality which are composed of
household/employment experiences. In the Dundee sample
processes of this sort are found to be of great
importance in gaining access to employment. The
structure of opportunity which exists and the patterns
of inequality associated with it have consequences for
what people are required to do in order to make ends
meet
