Today, a self-destructive chasm - a deep divide - exists between what mainstream American women believe and how they act on those beliefs; between what they say and what they do. Because of this gap, what women say they want - equal pay, equality in relationships, and limitless opportunity - is not what they have achieved, and this cripples their present lives and their future possibilities.

Yet no malevolent person or conspiracy holds women back from the equality that is rightfully, legally theirs. No imprisoning force locks them into second-class citizenship. Women voluntarily remain outside the establishment's walls, unwilling to open the gates and walk in.

For at the same time that they insist on equal opportunity and equal reward, they vote against women candidates who could bring about these goals, and disavow with a vengeance the front-line forces fighting in their name: feminism and the women's movement. In fact, only one out of every four women characterizes herself as "feminist" while, paradoxically, nine out of ten agree with feminism's goal of equality. And although more than half of all voters in the United States are women, unlike other groups outside the power structure, women do not use their franchise as a tool for social change.

The result: political scientists estimate that hundreds of years must pass before men and women share power and responsibility equally in America.

What's happening here? What internal forces are behind the deep divide holding women back from what they want to achieve? These are the questions that Sherrye Henry probes with the help of eleven focus groups, assembled specifically for this book, and a nation wide poll of six hundred women. In The Deep Divide, Henry not only analyzes what has produced this paralyzing dilemma but offers practical solutions for moving beyond it toward the goal of equality of opportunity women want and deserve.