ABSTRACT
In May of 1989, Australia had an estimated work force of 7.7 million employed persons, of whom 3.1 million were women (41 percent of the overall total and 78 percent of the part-time total). The unemployment rate was 7 percent for women and 6 percent for men. The labor-force participation of all women has increased steadily over the past forty years, from 30 percent in 1947 to 52 percent in 1991. For married women the increase over the same period was sevenfold from 6.5 percent to 49.5 percent. In the 1980s there was a great increase in the proportion of part-time jobs in Australia. By 1989, 40 percent of women in the workforce were employed part time. Many of them cared for young children and worked in jobs that often do not provide opportunities for training or promotion and are poorly paid (ABS 1990; Bittman 1991; Smyth 1991, 1991a).
