Persistence and Change in the Family and Gender in Australian Society

Abstract

The rediscovery of gender as an important division in society has refocused attention on those societal patterns of inequality which run their course in the familiar, if sociologically shadowy, setting of kitchen, nursery and home. No contemporary discussion of Australian families, therefore, can avoid a consideration of how the trinity of state policy, a capitalist labour market as well as particular forms of the family interact, if an understanding of contemporary inequalities is to be achieved.