Gendered Power Relations among

Women: A Study of Household

Decision Making in Black, Lesbian
Stepfamilies
By: Mignon R. Moore
Annie Wang, Sophia Sauvageau, Stephanie Zaron
Activities!
 Heterosexual White, Middle-Class Black Lesbians
Lesbians (Stepfamilies)
Ideologically Supports Y/N Y/N Y/N
Egalitarian
Relationship
Practices Egalitarian Y/N Y/N Y/N
Relationship
Joint Finances Y/N Y/N Y/N

Both Partners Work Y/N Y/N Y/N

Manages the Money Mom / F BioM / Both / Partner BioM / Both / Partner

Greater Influence on Mom / F BioM / Both / Partner BioM / Both / Partner

Child-Rearing
Household Organizer Mom / F BioM / Both / Partner BioM / Both / Partner

Head of Household Mom / F BioM / Both / Partner BioM / Both / Partner

Critical Thinking
What does this article highlight?
How individuals in same-sex stepfamily partnerships
divide household labor and structure hierarchies
Are these divisions based off feminist egalitarian
ideologies?
Two Main Perspectives and Ideologies

Gender Feminist
Relation VS Egalitarian
Perspective Perspective
Gender Relation Perspective
Definition:
Network of paradigms, research, and
theories that explore the ways in
which institutions use gender as an
organizing mechanism
Feminist Egalitarian Perspective

Egalitarianism: joint responsibility

for paid work, housework, and
childrearing
Data Collection and Methods
Four types of data
1. Participant-observation field notes (30 months)
2. Mail-in survey (100 respondents)
3. Four focus groups
4. 57 in-depth interviews
 1. Importance of economic
independence over
egalitarian distribution of
household labor
2. Importance of mother status

3 Main Findings:
in creation of hierarchies in
lesbian stepfamilies
3. How gendered presentations
of self in black lesb.
relationships are associated
w/ types of household tasks
ea. partner performs
Importance of Economic Independence
- Ensure self-sufficiency and autonomy
- Maintaining financial independence stems from relationship history
- Symbolic importance

Egalitarian distribution

- Biological mothers assume more responsibility for organizing and

overseeing tasks
- Take pride in household responsibilities
Questions:
How is Wandas family similar and different from the black lesbian
families in our study?
Thank you!