Since the publication of Simone de Beauvoir's The Second Sex, French feminist thought has informed and shaped the on-going debates in the English-speaking world. This book introduces English speakers to the work of a major group of French feminists - those de Beauvoir herself supported.

Since the publication of Simone de Beauvoir's The Second Sex, French feminist thought has informed and shaped the on-going debates in the English-speaking world. This book introduces English speakers to the work of a major group of French feminists - those de Beauvoir herself supported.

This important new book creates new terms for thinking about gender and generational relationships. In so doing it recasts conventional understandings of the family as an institution for organizing labour and consumption.

Delphy and Leonard present their wide-ranging theoretical discussion alongside a comparative study of the family in urban and rural areas. Theoretical innovation is consistently matched by empirical analysis of the family in diverse settings.