Toward a Sociotechnological Theory of the Women's Movement

The degree of sex stratification in a society is based on the extent to which males dominate the distribution of resources outside the reproductive unit. The industrial revolution increasingly transferred productive functions outside the family while it reduced women's reproductive functions. These trends reduced women's functions to custodial childcare and domestic service. While industrial demands for labor drew women first into the factory and later into the office, their supply and pay were regulated by male-dominated institutions, such as labor unions and schools. Only after married women entered the labor force on a long-term basis did the Women's Movement develop into a force which could not be reversed.