Dimensions of Stratification — Gender

Gender stratification refers to the unequal distribution of power, privileges, and opportunities between men and women, rooted not in biology but in social organization. Gender becomes a social construct that institutionalizes patriarchy, shaping roles, work, and identity across societies.

1️⃣ Functionalist Perspective

Functionalists see gender differentiation as essential for social stability. Each gender performs roles that contribute to the functioning of society.

Key Thinkers

• Talcott Parsons — family functions best when roles are complementary: men (instrumental) and women (expressive). Gender specialization ensures efficiency and harmony.
• George Murdock — gender division of labour is universal; men handle strenuous work, women domestic and nurturing work due to biological capacities.

2️⃣ Marxist and Socialist Feminist Perspectives

Marxist feminists argue that gender inequality stems from capitalism and private property. Women’s subordination ensures reproduction of labour power and maintenance of the capitalist economy.

Friedrich Engels (1884)

In The Origin of the Family, Private Property and the State, Engels traced women’s subjugation to the emergence of private property. With monogamous marriage, women became instruments for inheritance, leading to the “world historic defeat of the female sex.”

Margaret Benston & Heidi Hartmann

• Women’s unpaid domestic labour reproduces labour power cheaply — a hidden subsidy to capital.
• Hartmann coined the idea of dual systems theory: patriarchy and capitalism together produce gender inequality.

Silvia Federici

Argued that capitalist accumulation depended on control of women’s bodies and reproductive labour (“Caliban and the Witch”).

3️⃣ Radical Feminist Perspective

Radical feminists view patriarchy — not capitalism — as the root cause of women’s oppression. Male domination is embedded in sexuality, culture, and social institutions.

Simone de Beauvoir (1949)

In The Second Sex, she argued that “one is not born, but rather becomes, a woman.” Womanhood is a social construct that defines women as “the Other.” Liberation requires transcending imposed roles.

Shulamith Firestone

Linked gender inequality to biological reproduction. Reproductive technology could liberate women from dependence on men.

Kate Millett

In Sexual Politics, she defined patriarchy as a political system maintaining male supremacy through culture, literature, and sexuality.

4️⃣ Liberal Feminist Perspective

Liberal feminists focus on equal rights and opportunities through legal reform, education, and social policy. They believe structural barriers can be changed without overturning capitalism.

Key Thinkers

• Mary Wollstonecraft — earliest advocate for women’s education and rational equality.
• Betty Friedan — in The Feminine Mystique (1963), exposed the “problem with no name” of suburban housewives. Advocated workplace equality and anti-discrimination laws.
• John Stuart Mill — argued in The Subjection of Women for gender equality as essential for social progress.

5️⃣ Intersectional Feminism

Kimberlé Crenshaw introduced the concept of intersectionality to explain how gender interacts with class, race, caste, and ethnicity, producing layered disadvantage. Women’s experiences cannot be understood in isolation from other identities.

• Patricia Hill Collins — “matrix of domination”: systems of race, class, and gender intersect.
• In India, Dalit feminism (Sharmila Rege, Gopal Guru) reveals how caste and gender oppression intersect.

6️⃣ Postmodern and Queer Perspectives

Postmodern feminists reject universal categories like “woman” or “patriarchy.” They argue gender and sexuality are fluid and performative.

Judith Butler (1990)

In Gender Trouble, Butler argued gender is a performance — created through repeated acts and discourses. There is no “natural” gender; norms produce identities.

Donna Haraway

In Cyborg Manifesto, Haraway envisioned hybrid identities beyond male/female binaries, where technology blurs boundaries between human and machine.

Michel Foucault

Influenced postmodern feminism through his analysis of power/knowledge. Sexuality is regulated through discourse, not biological necessity.

7️⃣ Indian Feminist Contributions

• Leela Dube — analyzed kinship and gender; patriarchy reproduced through family and inheritance.
• Nandini Sundar — gendered aspects of tribal labour and land rights.
• Uma Chakravarti — concept of Brahmanical patriarchy linking caste hierarchy with gender control.
• Kumkum Sangari & Sudesh Vaid — women’s voices in colonial and postcolonial movements (Recasting Women).
• Vandana Shiva — ecofeminism: women’s relationship with nature highlights environmental justice.

8️⃣ Comparative Framework — Feminist Theories of Stratification

9️⃣ Flowchart — Evolution of Feminist Thought

UPSC Summary Pointers

• Gender stratification = institutionalized patriarchy producing unequal life chances.
• Functionalism → role differentiation; Marxism → economic exploitation; Radical → patriarchy as system; Liberal → legal reform; Intersectional → multiple oppressions; Postmodern → deconstruction of gender.
• Use Indian thinkers (Dube, Chakravarti, Rege) to localize answers.
• Integrate examples: wage gap, unpaid labour, representation, violence, ecofeminism.