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Women in Midlife pp 181–202Cite as

Social Change and Equality

The Roles of Women and Economics

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Part of the book series: Women in Context: Development and Stresses ((WICO))

Abstract

In our hunger for progress, we tend to encourage media-propagated myths that shroud the reality of women’s lives and discourage efforts to improve that reality. One of the most fundamental—and misleading—of the current myths is that the seeds of equality sown over many generations have at last flowered in response to the collective efforts of 20th-century women. We argue that the facts do not provide support for the belief that women have played a causal role as agents of change, and that it is important to correctly identify the antecedents of social change. Our thesis is that the recent changes are rooted in the economic needs of the nation, not in the sociopolitical needs of its women. Because of the external genesis of this change, its consequences are less permanent, less significant, and less beneficial than commonly claimed.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Centenary College, Hackettstown, New Jersey, 07840, USA

    Diane E. Alington

  2. Department of Psychology, Rutgers University, 39 Easton Avenue, New Brunswick, New Jersey, 08903, USA

    Lillian E. Troll

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  1. Diane E. Alington
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  2. Lillian E. Troll
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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Wellesley College, Wellesley, Massachusetts, USA

    Grace Baruch

  2. Educational Testing Service, Princeton, New Jersey, USA

    Jeanne Brooks-Gunn

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© 1984 Plenum Press, New York

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Alington, D.E., Troll, L.E. (1984). Social Change and Equality. In: Baruch, G., Brooks-Gunn, J. (eds) Women in Midlife. Women in Context: Development and Stresses. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4684-7823-5_8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4684-7823-5_8

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Boston, MA

  • Print ISBN: 978-1-4684-7825-9

  • Online ISBN: 978-1-4684-7823-5

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