ABSTRACT
This chapter reviews the evidence linking the schools to the reproduction of the sex role division of labor within US society. It begins with a discussion of the nature of the sex role division of labor in the United States in public and private life. The chapter talks new ways of thinking about women's education and its significance for future research. Reproduction theorists assert that the schools reinforce the division of labor in the society by maintaining class, race and gender inequalities. Research on women's schooling sees a direct relation between women's education and the status of women, and seeks to reform school practices in the hope that the schools could be made a force for equality. School knowledge consists of both formal and informal curriculum. School authority patterns represent a microcosm of the relative status of women in the workforce, despite the large number of women on school staffs.
