ABSTRACT
Feminists too interpret the convergence of men and women’s rates as progress. Employment provides women with an independent income, diminishes their reliance on men, enhances their social (and self) esteem, and encourages their participation in other areas of life, for example, politics. The “feminization of the labor force” receives applause all round. This chapter explores the extent, chronology, and meaning of these trends. It offers a critical assessment of this interpretation, arguing that actual trends in women’s labor force participation rate (WLFPR) have been shrouded in myths about women’s economic roles in the past and the present. The myths covered are the modernity of rise in WLFPR?, WLFP marching forward?, men’s work in fact and fiction, independence and empowerment through work?, and gender pay gap and its trend as the outcome of women’s choices. The idea that gender equality is assured and safeguarded henceforth is probably the greatest myth of all.
