ABSTRACT
The failure of gender and development studies to investigate men’s gendering casts doubt on the value of much extant feminist research. In the context of household studies the investigation of men and masculinity through male informants is in danger of merely redirecting the object of essentialism and pathologisation from men to that of women. Examining the way people employ discourses on gender identity in their attempts to define and contest household relations will enable us to develop a more empathetic approach to the difficulties facing poor men without losing sight of the consequences for women of domestic hierarchies.
