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.

Diana Leonard has been active in women's movement journals, libraries, conferences and campaigns for nearly twenty years.