Critics of feminist action groups say there is little left for them to do, now that market forces have just about equalized the status of women with that of men.

Statistics show that:

• The number of female senior vice presidents in the business world has increased 75 percent in the past decade.

• Women now earn 98 percent as much as men -- after taking into account such factors as family status, education, profession and the number of hours worked.

• The number of businesses owned by women is growing faster than the national economy.

• Women are now earning more college degrees than men and outnumber them in graduate schools.

Many women now in the business mainstream have little or no interest in activist groups such as the National Organization for Women. N.O.W. pursued largely left-of-center political and social agendas in the past, but critics say its goals have now become irrelevant. The big concerns at their recent national convention were pushing the Susan B. Anthony dollar coin, bashing the Christian men's group Promise Keepers, and pushing for the rights of "transgendered people," which could be anything from hermaphrodites to people waiting for sex change operations.

Source: Dr. Sally Satel (Independent Women's Forum), "NOW's Time Is Past," Wall Street Journal, July 11, 1997.

For more on the Independent Women's Forum http://www.iwf.org/