develop a schemata in which to understand the problem.
The term "status of women" now has the meaning of having to do with almost anything about women. In viewing the concomitant arguments surrounding gender discrimination, it is useful to review historically the status of women and how those values impact on the contemporary situation of gender. The three major determinants are legislation and legality, values and attitudes, and demographic mobility.
It was not until the 1920s that most scholars find women gaining significant inroads toward gender recognition and equality. Historian William Chafe believes that the gains have been exaggerated, but that "the 1920's represented a watershed in the history of women at work" (1972, p.56). Socially however, that decade seemed to usher in a more equalizing balance for women. Although the Great Depression intensified the feeling that women had their "place" and "work" and that men should be the one employed, World War II significantly altered the status of women within occupations (Schmid, 1976).
Throughout the war women worked in occupations previously closed to them. After the war, although many women were displaced when men returned to reclaim their jobs, the size of the female workforce continued to increase and offer women greater demographic and economic mobility (Schmid, 1976, p. 17).
As their mobility grew, so did women's desire to succeed in the work force. The 1950s and 1960s saw an increase in educational opportunities for women; however, many types of work remained closed and gender specific. For instance, a 1968 study showed that 42 percent of all women workers were in occupations that had higher than average intellectual requirements, but were paid lower than median incomes (Oppenheimer, 1968, pp. 224 8).
As the 1970s and 1980s progressed, women were becoming increasingly visible in nearly every occupation imaginable. Women were receiving advanced deg...