116 SOCIAL SCIENTIST took place with the advent and consolidation of private property and allied institutions. The rest of human history through feudalism and capitalism to socialism revolves around the primary incapacitation of women brought about by the rise of commodity production and property ownership. Changes in women's status do occur during this long span but within the confines of a world view and institutional structure based on . private property. Down the Ages An attempt is made here to gauge the degree and level of women^s status at different stages of social evolution. This model is worked out on the premise of a historical continuum divided into a simple three-tier chronological structure. The three periods are named early, medieval and modern: broad and relative terms in the sweep and range of time. The early period is one in which the tribe owns property in common and social relationships have largely kinship overtones. At this stage women play a crucial role in society as the mother, the only identifiable parent in a group—polyandric or pairing—system of marriage. There is a direct division of labour between man and woman. The role which women play in the realm of the household is on par with that which the man plays outside it. In this stage of primitive agriculture or cattle breeding, until the advent of the plough, women participate effectively in the work in the field as well. These factors assure for women a position of importance and respect in society. It is in this context that Engels pointed out that, peoples whose womenfolk have to work much harder than the Europeans consider proper, often have far more real respect for women than the Europeans have for theirs.1 The medieval period covers the growth and consolidation of private property and marks the growing control of men over the means of production. The status of women is adversely affected by the growth of slavery and the invention of the plough and field agriculture. The availability of slave labour and the increased potential of field agriculture work to the advantage of man, occurring as these developments do, in his realm. Through the control over the surplus thus created man becomes the master. The importance of woman's domestic activities lessens. This unequal relationship continues through both feudal and bourgeois stages of history. The notable difference between the two stages is in the earlier exclusion and later participation of women in the production process without changing the basic exploitative nature of man-woman relationship. The third stage opens us possibilities of a society in which socialization of the means of production eliminates the economic justification of strict monogamy and inequality of the sexes. Here the equality of opportunities guaranteed by the non-exploitative premises of the system makes the way clear for genuine personal relationships emerging and sustaining between men and women. Although hypothetical for India, this historical