Ethnicity, gender, and social class in Honduras: an analysis using the permanent household survey

Social stratification in Honduras is shaped by persistent informality, territorial inequality, and the intersection of ethnicity, gender, education, and rurality. Despite growing interest in intersectional approaches to class analysis in Latin America, Honduras remains underexplored in international stratification research.

Using data from the 2024 Permanent Household Survey and an adaptation of the Erikson-Goldthorpe-Portocarrero (EGP) class scheme, we analyze the class positions of indigenous, Afro-descendant, and mestizo populations in Honduras, examining how ethnicity, gender, educational attainment, and rural-urban location interact to shape labor market outcomes.

Ethnic differences in class position are strongly moderated by education and geographic location: low educational attainment and rural residence increase the probability of insertion into agricultural or informal classes, while urban environments and higher education facilitate access to service-sector and formal employment. Women-particularly Afro-descendant and indigenous women-are concentrated in urban self-employment and service activities despite reaching educational levels comparable to men, with limited access to formal and protected occupations. Afro-Honduran women tend toward non-manual or autonomous urban work, while indigenous women are more concentrated in agricultural, domestic, or subsistence activities, often underreported in labor statistics.

The results demonstrate that class structure in Honduras operates intersectionally: no single factor-ethnicity, gender, education, or territory-explains class belonging independently, as their effects are mutually conditioned. Rurality functions not merely as a geographic dimension but as a structural axis of inequality, perpetuating historical disadvantages through limited productive diversification and scarce formal employment. These findings suggest that policies addressing education, employment, gender, or ethnicity in isolation are insufficient to alter existing class hierarchies, and call for integrated interventions that simultaneously tackle labor segmentation, educational inequality, territorial disparities, and racial and gender discrimination.