ABSTRACT
A fundamental dilemma in advanced societies today is whether all ascription of status on the basis of sex will disappear or whether some division of labor between men and women will be retained. This chapter considers an important but somewhat neglected aspect of them: the effect on sex roles of some important demographic changes in advanced industrial societies-changes such as increased longevity, widening sex differences in mortality, aging populations and low fertility. The argument is that such changes give rise to new circumstances between men and women that force alterations in sex roles. This in turn brings forth ideological developments such as the feminist movement. It is not that the demographic trends are perceived by each individual and thus consciously adapted to, but rather that they arise spontaneously in advanced societies and alter the conditions of life.
