Up to this point, I have omitted almost entirely any reference to the position of women in age class systems because my intent has been to describe the basic features of the models of these systems. In the past, omissions of this sort have had a critical, if implicit, meaning. Age classes were thought to involve predominantly, if not exclusively, the male members of society and to be directly related to the postpubertal initiation of male youths. As a result, much attention was paid to this kind of initiation, whereas the initiation of girls and their social status were considered to be of no great interest. Kertzer and Madison (1981: 110) are correct in observing that “in many ethnographic reports, women are totally ignored, with references to ‘everyone’ or ‘all the youths’ signifying only males.” In fact, the position of women in age class systems was not considered an issue of any value. Yet today no study of the problem of age classes could be considered systematic and objective without taking into account the position of women. We must clarify which forms of institutionalized age groups, if any, involve women, and we must understand why age class organization is more frequently found among males in a society, just as it has been possible to clarify the relationship between postpubertal initiation and age class systems, and between generation and the military and other functions of those systems.