The sociological discourses of the late 19th century largely contributed to establish the legitimacy of the gender arrangement then valued in Western Europe. Most of the authors of this period who analysed the relationship between men and women did not attract much attention during their lifetime. However, three authors, who are considered classics of sociology in retrospect, published on this topic: Ferdinand Tönnies, Émile Durkheim and Georg Simmel. Despite their different approaches, their conceptualisations largely confirm the then dominant idea of a hierarchy between two dichotomous sexes. Even though at first glance they seem to be prisoners of the ‚gender order‘ of their time, this article discusses to what extent they admit the possibility of an evolution of the gender division of labour that would not necessarily be biologically predetermined.