Title: The history of women’s work and wages and how it has created success for us all
Headings: The history of women’s work and wages and how it has created success for us all
The history of women’s work and wages and how it has created success for us all
A historical perspective on women in the labor force
Remaining challenges and some possible solutions
Conclusion
About the Author
Janet L. Yellen
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Content: Several factors contributed to this rise. First, with the advent of mass high school education, graduation rates rose substantially. At the same time, new technologies contributed to an increased demand for clerical workers, and these jobs were increasingly taken on by women. Moreover, because these jobs tended to be cleaner and safer, the stigma attached to work for a married woman diminished. And while there were still marriage bars that forced women out of the labor force, these formal barriers were gradually removed over the period following World War II. Women working at the U.S. Capitol switchboard, Washington, D.C. (Library of Congress)
Over the decades from 1930 to 1970, increasing opportunities also arose for highly educated women. That said, early in that period, most women still expected to have short careers, and women were still largely viewed as secondary earners whose husbands’ careers came first. As time progressed, attitudes about women working and their employment prospects changed. As women gained experience in the labor force, they increasingly saw that they could balance work and family. A new model of the two-income family emerged.