ABSTRACT
Technological innovation had a dramatic impact on women at work-both in the home and in the labor force. Nevertheless, traditional gender roles shaped how technological innovation affected women’s lives. Until very recently, labor-saving devices had not reduced the working hours of homemakers, even if they changed how women spent those hours. Equally, new machinery in the factory and the office did not merely neutralize the slight advantage of the average male in physical strength and thus offer women an equal playing field in competition for jobs. Instead, gender-role stereotypes long confined women’s employment opportunities to a narrow range.
