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 is 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 Mrs. 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.