In early societies, women bore children, cared for the home, and helped maintain the family's economic production. Men hunted, made war, and, in settled societies, assumed primary responsibility for field crop production. Male dominance, however, was important from the time of the earliest written historical records, probably as a result of men's discovery of their role in development of hunting and warfare as status activities. The belief that women were naturally weaker and inferior to …showed first 75 words of 660 total…

…showed last 75 words of 660 total…of abortion, and the focus of serious attention on the problems of rape, wife and child beating, and discrimination against older and minority women. American women have made many gains in the last decade, perhaps best exemplified by the 1984 nomination of Geraldine Ferraro as the Democratic candidate for vice-president of the U.S. During the administration of President Ronald Reagen, however, women lost ground on issues such as affirmative action and pay equality with men