In his work, Democracy in America, Alexis de Tocqueville assigns to women the task he thinks most necessary in the preservation of a democratic regime: women nurture, educate, and impart to the young the virtues which maintain the moral standards and integrity of a particular society. This essay considers the limits of Tocqueville's analysis with respect to his observations concerning gender roles and civic participation and seeks to set forth reasons why women and men who are committed to the realization of certain democratic ideals cannot wholeheartedly embrace Tocqueville's particular form of liberalism.