Michigan State University Extension
Diversity and Pluralism - 20293046
12/95/
ERIC TITLE NUMBER: ED201848 AUTHOR: Waite, Linda J.
TITLE: U.S. Women at Work.
YEAR PUBLISHED: 1981
JOURNAL: Population-Bulletin; v36 n2 May 1981
NOTE: 49 p.; Photographs and tables will not reproduce
well.
AVAILABILITY: more, $1.50 each).
ABSTRACT: Women comprised 43% of the United States labor
force in 1980, up from 29% in 1950. The surge in women's
employment is linked to more delayed marriage, divorce,
separation, women's increased education, lower fertility,
rapid growth in clerical and service jobs, inflation, and
changed attitudes toward "women's place." Employment has
risen fastest among married women, especially married
mothers of children under six. Some 44% of employed women
work full-time, year-round, but average $6 for every $10
earned by men working that same amount. This is partly
because most women remain segregated in low-paying "women's
jobs." Working wives were spending six times more time on
housework than married men in 1975, and working mothers of
preschool children are hampered by a lack of day-care
facilities. Equal employment opportunity and affirmative
action have improved the climate for working women but not
as much as for minorities. Federal income tax and social
security systems still discriminate against two-earner
families. Women's position in the labor force should
improve with the inroads women are making in some
male-dominated occupations and gains in job experience and
seniority among younger women who now tend to stay in the
labor force through the years of childbearing and early
child-rearing. (Author/YLB)
KEY DESCRIPTORS: Adults-; Affirmative-Action; Career
Education; Employment-Practices; Employment-Statistics;
Equal-Opportunities-Jobs; Females-; Labor-Force;
Salary-Wage Differentials
KEY DESCRIPTORS: *Employed-Parents; *Employed-Women;
*Employment-Level; *Employment-Patterns; *Mothers-; *Sex
Discrimination
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