AbstractThis paper examines in some detail the technological innovations which have helped women overcome the physical disabilities of being female, i.e., their pregnancies and the subsequent need to nurse their babies. It was probably these aspects of being female that led Freud and others to proclaim that“biology is destiny.”By 1900 in general and certainly in all particulars by 1920, technological breakthroughs lessened these disadvantages. Still psychologists, psychiatrists, and others have tended to look backwards in their assessment of women's role rather than forward. As a result the cultural lag between innovation and change was prolonged, and this has led to criticism of Freud and others by modern feminists. The result is a reassessment of the psychological evaluation of women.