ABSTRACT
One of the key revolutions in industrialized societies over the past century, and perhaps particularly the past half century, is the shift in women’s social and economic position. Many women are well qualified, some highly so; the full-time homemaker model has largely been replaced by the dual role of earner and caregiver; women, particularly highly qualified ones, are delaying or turning their back on childbirth; single-adult households, the great majority of which are headed by women, are now common, some as a result of high divorce rates. OECD (2002: 69) reports that women account for 45 per cent of the UK workforce aged 15 to 64. The level is somewhat higher in the Nordic countries1 (47-48 per cent) and the United States (47 per cent). The increase in women’s participation in the labour market is a particularly significant feature of the economies of industrialized countries (Garcia et al. 2003).
