Harmonieuze ongelijkheid als schone schijn

Samenvatting

The illusion of "harmonious inequality". Dutch sociologists, inspired by theoretical notions of Elias, are being criticized for their assumption that power-relations between the sexes have undergone a fast and fundamental change in the postwar period. "Harmonious inequality", a concept introduced by Van Stolk and Wouters in their research on battered wives, is rejected. In a pilotstudy on two postwar generations of women, combining paid work and motherhood, and other research concerning women in the fifties, much more hidden resentment and resistance of women than the concept of "harmonious inequality" allows for is being found. Secondly, the situation of contemporary women is being seen as less favourable than Van Stolk and Wouters seem to do. Inner doubts prevent these women from getting more power, even though they perceive even more unfairness in the relation between the sexes and are more willing to risk conflicts than the generation of their mothers. In conclusion the contrast Van Stolk and Wouters presume between the period before and after 1965 is thought to be exaggerated and misleading in its optimism.