female roles, making it impossible to define gender in terms of narrow male andfemale roles. Gender is culturally defined, with significant differences fromculture to culture. These differences are studied by anthropologists toascertain the range of behaviors that have developed to define gender and on theforces at work in the creation of these roles. The role of women in Americansociety was conditioned by religious attitudes and by the conditions of lifethat prevailed through much of American history. The culture of Europe andAmerica was based for centuries on a patriarchal system in which exclusiveownership of the female by a given male was considered important, with theresult that women were regulated to the role of property with no voice in theirown fate. The girl-child was trained from birth to fit the role awaiting her,and as long as compensations were adequate, women were relatively content:"For Example, if in return for being a man's property a woman receiveseconomic security, a full emotional life centering around husband and children,and an opportunity to express her capacities in the management of her home, shehas little cause for discontent."While this statement is arguable in the way it assumes that women arenot discontented under such circumstances, it is clear that for most of historywomen were expected to be content with this sort of life and were trained forthat purpose. Clearly, circumstances of family life have changed in the modernera. Industry has been taken out of the home, and large families are no longereconomically possible or socially desired. The home is no longer the center ofthe husband's life, and for the traditional wife there is only a narrowing ofinterests and possibilities for development: "Increasingly, the woman findsherself without an occupation and with an unsatisfactory emotional life." Thechange in sex roles that can be discerned in society is closely tied withchanges in the structure o...
