EXPRESS READING WOMEN’S STATUS

EXPRESS READING

WOMEN’S STATUS

In the early 1970s, there was a great deal of optimism about

improving women’s position, ending male privilege and doing

away with gender divisions and even gender difference. Equal

opportunities legislation was enacted in many countries, and

the voice of the women’s movement was heard criticising

discrimination between the sexes in every sphere of working

life. Now it is clear that legislation can make only a marginal

difference to entrenched patterns of job segregation and inequality.

The voices of feminism, too, are varied; some demand equality

with men while others pursue the revaluation of women’s skills

and ‘womanly’ virtues.