ABSTRACT
A majority of women work for pay; women have always worked. The statistics about women’s employment in the United States show that, since 1900, women never have been less than 19 percent of the paid work force. Their share has grown dramatically since 1960.1 Women earn less than men for the same work; they share in fewer rewards for their labor. The earnings gap between men and women is more than 20 percent. The relationship of work to women’s rights and the public problems that result stem from the meaning people assign to these statistics. Why do women work? What does work mean to women? What does women’s participation in the work force mean to families, to society and to the economy? How are women workers different from men workers? How does race discrimination affect women in the work force? At any time, there are a variety of answers to these questions in public debate. Some of the answers will become dominant and shape public policy, thus affecting work and pay for groups of women.
