training, by the acculturation process which decides forthem what sort of existence they will have. This can result in feelings ofguilt when their reality and the image they have been taught from childhood donot mesh.It would be a mistake to see changing gender roles in society asthreatening only to males who dominate that society. Such changes also threatenmany women who have accepted more traditional roles and see change as a threat."I don't know how your mother does it all. . . I think time are harder for womenthese days. . . so many choices." This response is not new. When women firstunited for the right to vote at the beginning of this century, they were opposedby women's groups who wanted things to remain as they were. Many of these womenwere ladies of means and social position in society:The main burden of their argument was that woman suffrage placed anadditional and unbearable burden on women, whose place was in the home. . .These arguments are heard today from religious fundamentalists who believe thatthe women's movement is a threat to the family. The fact is that the family haschanged and that the traditional family structure of homemaker, husband asbreadwinner, and children bow constitutes only 10 percent of families. The rolefor women has expanded with more women in the workplace and with a variety offamily structures with new roles for all members of the family. Business hasbeen slow to change and to acknowledge the new family, and for all thecomplaints about the women's movement as anti-family, the movement has insteadfollowed the trend of placing the family in the forefront of addressing familyissues as vital to women.There is much evidence that boys and girls are treated differently formbirth, and this fact has been noted in every world culture:It may never be possible to separate out the precise effects ofphysiology and cultural conditioning on human beings. Not only do theyindividually influence people but...
