Since the earliest years of this century, American women have sought equal opportunities in education, the labor force, and the eyes of the law. This monograph has shown that in most of those areas women have achieved that equality. They are well represented in the professions, and they continue to enter fields of study that were previously dominated by men. Women are starting their own businesses in record numbers and winning elective offices throughout the country.
Laws barring discrimination against women are on the books and enforced.
All those gains clearly belie the image of women as victims struggling against discrimination in the workplace. We have challenged the image of women as victims because it contradicts the obvious statistical gains American women have made in this century. It is also not an image with which most women identify. The countless women who have started their own businesses, won elective office, and made it to the top of their professions are not victims. They are evidence of just how far American women have come and how far they are going.