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The majority of working women are employed in female-intensive occupations, but a growing number are pursuing employment in male-dominated fields. As women move into less traditional jobs, employers have expressed concern that women may lack the physical strength necessary to perform the work. Bielby and Baron (1986) analyzed employment policies in over 400 establishments in California and found women were, in numerous instances, excluded from work perceived as physically demanding even though detailed job analyses revealed the jobs required no strenuous physical exertion. They also studied employment policies before and after 1970, when legal restrictions on lifting for women became unconstitutional, and concluded that "women were more likely to be excluded from jobs requiring heavy lifting in establishments studied after 1970" (p. 785).
Organizational inertia and cultural stereotypes may limit opportunities for the advancement of women in many traditionally male-dominated jobs. The purpose of this paper is to analyze the research and literature pertaining to women's capacities for physically strenuous work and to determine whether there is a basis for restrictive policies about women and physically demanding work.
HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVES
Women have always participated in physically strenuous work. When our society was largely rural and agrarian, women labored on farms. During World War II, women were encouraged to participate in the labor force, often in traditionally male-dominated occupations. These examples are often used to exemplify women's endurance. According to one author, "Women have demonstrated - most notably in factories during World War II, the capacity to perform skilled and taxing physical work" (Lebowitz, 1982, p. 53). It was during this time that women became precision toolmakers, overhead crane operators, lumberjacks, and drill press operators, "Women could fill any job, no matter how difficult or arduous" (Baxandall, Gordon, & Reverby, 1976, p. 280).
Despite this historical evidence of female participation in physically demanding work, the notion of women as "weak" remains pervasive in our culture. This myth of female weakness may be used to deny women access to relatively highpaying jobs in traditionally male-dominated occupations. It has already been established that women have been used as a source of taxing manual labor when society has required this role of them. Although women are recognized as capable workers, the prejudices in our maledominated society may continue to...