The article addresses the question of current transformatiòns in the interrelationships between the spheres of production and reproduction and their effects on the construction of gender, with the family considered a mediating factor. Female social practices have changed, as reflected in increased rates of female participation in the labor market and a sharp drop in the birth rate. This study investigates how one group of low-income men feels about these questions. Data collection was based on a participative methodology in which four men from the Manguinhos slums, on Rio's north side, took part in developing a survey and applying it to one hundred and thirty men from three generations within their community. It was concluded that both the control of fertility and female participation in the labor market are necessary to family survival and now accepted by men as a female social obligation - in other words, we are witnessing a historical movement of "gender transition". Nonetheless, these practices displayed by the low-income population cannot be interpreted as advances in the social equality of the sexes. On the contrary, they reveal a relation between the re-elaboration of class inequalities and gender inequalities.