ABSTRACT
In all industrialised societies, except for the Scandinavian countries, fewer women than men participate in the labour market. It is widely believed that women's employment has been increasing throughout the 20th century, especially in recent decades, so that this difference in participation rates may soon be eliminated. Chapter 3 examines this idea in some detail. A n alternative thesis, addressed in this chapter, is that national statistics are faulty and ideologically biased: women's work has been systematically undervalued and undercounted, giving the false impression that workrates are now higher than in the recent past. Women have always worked, it is argued, often longer hours than men. Due to the undervaluation of women's work, national statistics provide an incomplete picture of women's full contribution to the economy and of their role in society.
