Women, as members of families and households, produce many goods and services that benefit other family members, whether their work is paid or unpaid. Their work also affects the family's relation with others in the community or reference group. Particular kinds of work that I call family status production maintain and enhance the family's social standing, although they do not necessarily enhance the woman's status within that unit. Individual status within the family, defined in terms of access to resources and influence in decisions, varies independently of family standing in the community. Status may be defined as the "collectively shared assessment or evaluation of a societal unit on the basis of certain objective characteristics of the unit."2 The terms status, prestige, and social standing are gener-