preface<br >~ ~ ~ ~<br > it took seventy-two years for women to get the<br >vote. Generations wore out their lives in pursuit of it. Some<br >women went to jail， many picketed， marched， and protested<br >their deprived state in other ways. In the last stages of the fight<br >for equal suffrage， literally millions of women contributed<br >something to the cause. Yet when the vote was gained it made<br >little difference to the feminine condition. A few women were<br >elected to office， political campaigning became more refined，<br >and tlae sex lives of candidates were more rigorously policed.<br >The ballot did not materially help women to advance their<br > most urgent causes; even worse， it did not help women to better<br > themselves or improve their status. The struggle for women s<br > rights ended during the 1920 s， leaving men in clear possession<br > of the commanding places in American life. For nearly a cen-<br > tury women had demanded access to college and the profes-<br > sions， and had insisted on their right to work at whichever jobs<br > the)， pleased. They did make progress on the economic front，<br > but when the feminist movement ended they were still dis-<br > criminated against in many ways. They found employment on<br > tile lowest rungs of the occupational ladder; few made much<br > money or rose very high no matter what their field of enter-<br > prise. The position of women did improve over time， yet this<br > seems mainly to have been the result of broad socio-economic<br > Pre[ace . . ~ vii<br >