Historically, much of traditional social stratification theory has been criticized for being largely gender-blind. Classical theories by thinkers like Marx and Weber primarily focused on class, status, and power derived from economic positions or political influence, often implicitly assuming a male-dominated public sphere. The household was frequently treated as a single unit, with the male head's class position determining the family's overall stratification, thus rendering women's distinct experiences of inequality invisible.

These frameworks often failed to adequately account for how gender itself is a fundamental principle of social stratification, creating hierarchies and inequalities independent of, or in conjunction with, class. Women often face systemic disadvantages in terms of income, property ownership, access to resources, and power, even within the same social class as men.

However, feminist sociology and contemporary stratification theories have actively challenged this gender-blindness. They highlight how gender shapes life chances, access to opportunities, and experiences of oppression, advocating for an intersectional approach that considers how gender interacts with class, race, and other dimensions of inequality to produce complex patterns of stratification. Thus, while traditional theory might have overlooked gender, modern sociology strives to integrate it.