PSYCHOLOGY OF WOMEN QUARTERLY

Recent changes in the timing of life stages, the length of the lifespan, labor force participation, marriage and fertility are described. It is argued that highly-differentiated sex-role orientations are less suited to current con-ditions than are androgynous orientations, especially for women. If this is true, then developing androgynous sex-role orientations may promote greater adaptability and positive mental health. Throughout much of recorded history, the philosophies of both the East and the West have regarded masculine and feminine as polarized, complementary modes of being. These constructs carried prescriptive weight as well as descriptive weight. At various times, violations of the cultural prescriptions for masculinity and femininity have met with religious, social, legal or quasi-medical (i.e., psychiat-ric) condemnation. Not surprisingly, these cultural ideals have found expression in men’s and women’s self-concepts, aspirations and be-haviors. The idea of the androgyne-an individual embodying qualities of both male and female-also has a long history in both the Orient and the Occident. However, it is only recently that it has been pro-posed that androgyny should replace masculinity and femininity as the norm for men’s and women’s behavior (e.g., Bern, 1977). The argument is made that traditional ideas of gender-appropriateness constrain men and women from developing broad, flexible behavior repertoires and thereby limit human adaptability