Women and men differ in their housing opportunities, resources or strategies, and these differences are to a degree systematic and persistent. Earlier chapters touched on the impact which market relationships and labour market positions have on women's housing, and also referred to the realm of ideas, where expectations about family and respectability have played a part. We explored the diverse meanings and functions of home, where gender can be a highly significant variable. Our task now is twofold. First we summarise key points relevant to an analysis of gender in relation to housing and comment on relationship breakdown, as well as on social landlords and homelessness. Second we offer insights into the specific area of rehousing for women who have experienced domestic violence, drawing on new research. This deserves space below because – despite changing labour market opportunities – women in general are still affected strongly by ideologies or discourses that cast them and men in particular domestic and work roles, and that continue to exert influence on social regulation and the activities of practitioners. Women's difficulties in living with and leaving violent men reflect societal outlooks and a lack of autonomy that have changed only slowly, and entrenched expectations about partnering and childcare, as well as financial constraints. The topic highlights how competing ideas are manifested in daily practice.

As in previous chapters we can observe that there is difference within difference, and that difference is regulated. Experiences and strategies among women are diverse (and perhaps even somewhat polarised), but still set within broader patterns of difference linked to structural factors that condition ongoing practices of social regulation. Although women are “separated by country, class, race, marriage, maternity and a lot more” (Pascall, 1997, p 22), they nonetheless tend to share low pay, limited political voice, and demanding domestic responsibilities. They confront influential patriarchal traditions and practices, and meet resistance to change. There are complex relationships with other patterns or bases of disadvantage, and effective feminist accounts acknowledge these. Disability, racism and class can be set alongside gender in a more general overview of the kind we are working towards in this book, taking account of the manner in which many differences are regulated. In any event, understanding women's circumstances is essential if we are to get to grips with how housing systems operate, how inequalities are sustained, and how areas of social tension are dealt with.