This study analyses first the impact of various income sources on overall income inequality in Switzerland in 1980, on the basis of the Income and Wealth Survey which was conducted during that year. The specific effect of each of these income sources is analyzed separately for male- and female-headed households and an attempt is made to also determine their role in explaining the difference between the level of overall income inequality in these two subpopulations. It appears that differences between the two groups in the shares of the various income sources play a greater role than differences in the within income sources inequality.