The Futures of Women: Scenarios for the Twenty-First Century

McCorduck (Nuclear Weapon Decision-Making) and Ramsey (The Fifth Generation) are members of the Global Business Network, a consulting firm for the future, for which they prepared this study. In examining cultural trends and attending international women's conferences, they attempt to estimate what the status of women will be in 20 years. Their results, presented here in a scholarly tone, use scenario planning that offers four visions of the future: a worldwide backlash against women, harmonious equality of the sexes, a society where the gains and losses maintain the status quo and a separate but equal world of equality of the sexes. The authors assert that the ""official future"" posited by male writers such as Peter Drucker-gradual equality of men and women-won't take place, because there is a ""vast and unprecedented transformation"" ""inside the heads of women that is making them demand faster change."" Since McCorduck and Ramsey predict that parts of each scenario are likely to occur, their thesis is aimed chiefly at stimulating discussion for positive societal change. (June)