  Socrates ties the abolition of private families among the guardian  classes to another radical proposal, that in the ideal city the  education for and job of ruling should be open to girls and women.  The exact relation between the proposals is contestable (Okin 1977). Is Socrates  proposing the abolition of families in order to free up women to do  the work of ruling? Or is Socrates putting the women to work since  they will not have the job of family-caregiver anymore? But perhaps  neither is prior to the other. Each of the proposals can be supported independently, and their dovetailing effects can be claimed as a  happy convergence.