Power in the workplace translates into power at home which determines the patterning of gender and delinquency. The instrument-object relationship typical of parents and daughters in patriarchal families makes daughters' delinquency unlikely. This relationship is most acute in families in which the husband is employed in a position of authority and the wife is either not employed or is employed in a position without authority; the relationship is least acute in more egalitarian families. In such egalitarian families, and in female-headed households, daughters are more free to become delinquent. Since World War II, the trend has been away from the patriarchal family and toward the egalitarian. Observing relationships between gender and delinquency now requires considering the relative positions of both spouses in the workplace. 5 notes, 12 tables.