ABSTRACT

These trends raise several puzzling questions. How do we explain persistent gender inequality in the United States? And what role does education play in perpetuating or reducing gender inequality? In the sections that follow we discuss three types of explanations used to explain gender inequality: gender socialization theories, dual-labor market theories, and socialist feminist theories. We also consider what each approach has to say, explicitly or implicitly, about the role of education in the maintenance and transformation of gender inequality in society.