Yuvnal Yonay says: <Going back to Becker, if I recall correctly, one of his claims was that minor differences between the spouses in terms of household duties justifies the specialization of men in labor market employment and women's specialization in cooking and diaper changing. This is perfect from neoclassical standpoint, but the question is what happens if the spouses decide to separate. In such a case, women are left stranded (and this is just one problem). Of course, it can be argued that Becker's model is just a starting point. One can now build a model (perhaps one has already been published) analyzing women's decisions and taking into consideration her assessment of separation (with full information about husband's tastes, sexual liaisons etc., or missing information), risk aversions, discount rates etc. etc. And then, after dozens of published articles in A level journals and dozens of years, reach the conclusion that women might be better-off with outside employment even if it is not the most efficient for the household in the short term. Surprisingly, such a conclusin has already been reached by feminists and published in the 70s, although not in an A level Econ journal. Now the question is why Becker has not considered such a scenario in his famous article, although nobody denies he is smart enough to think about it, and why most economists of the family have prefered his stories over those numerous stories published by feminists (based on ethnographic work, in-depth interviews, textual analyses) in A level journals in sociology, cultural studies, anthropology, psychology, political science etc. And why should feminists be interested in using economics tools when they use other tools that supply them with more vital answers even in questions about the economy.> In response, I would say that the division of labor and specialization according to comparative advantage are part of economic theory proper and have no cultural or gender implications. Application of the theory to explain the division of duties within the family and to suggest a particular family organization is part history and part policy. Feminist contributions to the history application phase are certainly worth attention. Sam Bostaph