title: U.S. women at work.
abstract: Women made up 43% of the U.S. labor force in 1980, up from 29% in 1950, and 52% of all women 16 and over were working or looking for work compared to 34% in 1950.  The surge in women's employment is linked to more delayed marriage, divorce, and separation, women's increased education, lower fertility, rapid growth in clerical and service jobs, inflation, and changing attitudes toward "woman's place."  Employment has risen fastest among married women, especially married mothers of children under 6, 45% of whom are now in the labor force.  Some 44% of employed women now work fulltime the year round, but still average only $6 for every $10 earned by men working that amount.  This is partly because most women remain segregated in low paying "women's jobs" with few chances for advancement.  Among fulltime workers, women college graduates earn less than male high school dropouts.  Working wives were still spending 6 times more time on housework than married men in 1975 and working mothers of preschool children are also hampered by a severe lack of daycare facilities.  Children of working women, however, appear to develop normally.  Equal employment opportunity and affirmative action measures have improved the climate for working women but not as much as for minorities.  The federal income tax and social security systems still discriminate against 2 income families.  Woman's position in the U.S. labor force should eventually 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 childrearing, unlike women in the 1950s and 1960s.
authors.forename: L J
authors.initials: LJ
authors.lastname: Waite
mesh_terms: D000367:Age Factors; D000569:Americas; D001519:Behavior; D001723:Birth Rate; D002654:Child Care; D002668:Child Rearing; D003710:Demography; D019049:Developed Countries; D004243:Divorce; D004467:Economics; D004522:Educational Status; D004651:Employment; D005191:Family Characteristics; D005298:Fertility; D006280:Health Workforce; D006796:Household Work; D007182:Income; D007398:Interpersonal Relations; D017533:Marital Status; D008393:Marriage; D008571:Men; D009656:North America; D009790:Occupations; D011153:Population; D011157:Population Dynamics; D011640:Public Policy; D012456:Salaries and Fringe Benefits; D012923:Social Class; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D014478:Unemployment; D014481:United States; D014930:Women
keywords: Age Factors; Americas; Behavior; Birth Rate; Child Care; Child Rearing; Demographic Factors; Developed Countries; Divorce; Economic Factors; Educational Status; Employment; Employment Status--women; Family And Household; Family Characteristics; Fertility; Fertility Measurements; Fertility Rate; Housework; Human Resources; Husband-wife Communication; Income; Labor Force--women; Macroeconomic Factors; Marital Status--statistics; Men; North America; Northern America; Nuptiality; Occupational Status; Occupations; Policy; Population; Population Dynamics; Socioeconomic Factors; Socioeconomic Status; Unemployment; United States; Wages--statistics; Women