Why does it happen that, no matter what sphere of work women are hired for or select, like sediment in a wine bottle they settle to the bottom? Why do the best women--those in whom society has invested most heavily--underperform, underachieve, and underproduce? Why this is so and how it occurs in the focus of this book. The sociologist's special tools of analysis are used to identify the social factors that assign women to their place and keep them there. While most of Epstein's data are drawn from the professions--law, medicine, science, engineering, and university teaching--her analysis touches at many points the problems of poor women, who constitute the major part of the female work force. This title is part of UC Press's Voices Revived program, which commemorates University of California Press's mission to seek out and cultivate the brightest minds and give them voice, reach, and impact. Drawing on a backlist dating to 1893, Voices Revived makes high-quality, peer-reviewed scholarship accessible once again using print-on-demand technology. This title was originally published in 1970.