ABSTRACT

This essay reviews several areas of economic life in which women have made substantial progress in recent decades, assesses their prospects for future success, and recommends policies to help further close the economic gap between women and men. Closing that gap would ensure the more equitable sharing of economic prosperity. The areas of progress include the increase in women's labor force participation, the growth in women's earnings relative to men's, the gain in women's education, the broader range of occupations and jobs open to women, and the increasingly shared financial responsibility for families.