SOCIAL LOCATION AND GENDER-ROLE ATTITUDES: A Comparison of Black and White Women

Theorists have posited that investment in production has a radical impact on women's gender-role attitudes, whereas investment in reproduction exerts a conservative influence. Informed by an interactive approach to understanding the effects of racism and sexism, this article explores the commonalities and differences in Black and White women's gender-role attitudes, and assesses the applicability to Black women of the investment-in-production and investment-in-reproduction hypothesis. The data in part supported the contention that this hypothesis would be more valid for White than Black women. The article concludes that the exclusion of race (and class) from our analyses impedes and distorts the development of feminist theory.