Finally, 1975 was designated as International Women's Year, aiming at the promotion of equality between men and women, full integration of women in economic, social, and cultural development, and increased contribution of women to international friendship and cooperation. We hope that the results of this study will promote the objectives and goals of International Women's Year so that significant progress can be achieved during the 1975 to 1985 decade. THE PRESENT STATUS OF WOMEN WORKERS-Chapter 1 Characteristics of Women Workers One of the most striking aspects of the role of women in the American economy today is the large number and proportion of women who are in paid employment outside of their homes and the increasing strength of their attachment to the work force. In recent years, women by the millions have continuously responded to the economy's demand for additional workers. Since 1965, nearly 60 percent of the net growth in the American labor force was accounted for by women (table 1). By early 1975, there were 361⁄2 million women workers, and they accounted for 2 out of every 5 workers in the country's entire labor force. About 46 percent of all women in the population aged 16 and over were in the labor force, a proportion that rose to well over 50 percent for women aged 18 to 54 (table 2). The extraordinary acceleration in women's labor force participation over the past decade resulted from changes in many areas-demographic, social, technological, and economic. These changes included large increases in the adult population due to the relatively high birth rates in the immediate post-World War II years, the development and increased availability of goods and services that made housework easier, more widespread acceptance of family planning and birth control, a softening of society's prejudice against working wives, the increasing demand for workers in white-collar and service jobs, and landmark legislation and court decisions prohibiting employment discrimination based on sex. Marital Status The most dramatic growth in labor force participation has occurred among married women living with their husbands. They account for almost three-fifths of all women workers; single (never married) women are a fifth; and formerly married or separated women are another fifth (table 3). The preponderance of married women workers reflects two facts: (1) Even though proportionately fewer wives than single, separated, or divorced women work, a very large majority of the adult women in the population are married and living with their husbands. (2) Labor force participation rates are now relatively high even for married women (table 4). More than 4 out of 10 wives living with their husbands, including those with children under age 18, are in the work force. Of some 131⁄2 million women in the labor force who have children under age 18, about 11 million are wives living with their husbands (table 5). Although proportionately more single than married women work, the overall participation rate of single women is held down by the fact that many are still in school or seeking their first job. About the same proportion of separated women as of single women work but the proportion is higher for divorced women. Fewer divorced than married women have preschoolage children and, among those who do have children, the proportion who work is higher than it is for married women living with their husbands. A much smaller proportion of widows are in the labor force since a great many of them are elderly (table 6). Younger children in the family continue to reduce the chances of a mother's working, but the participation rates of these mothers have risen steadily in recent years. In March 1974, the rates ranged from 31 percent for wives with children under age 3 to 51 percent for those with school-age children (6-17 years) and none younger. The participation rate for wives with no children under age 18, at 43 precent, falls between these rates because about half of these women were at least 55 years old, ages where the proportions of women working or looking for work are very low. If the age group for women with no children under age 18 is limited to those under 55, the participation rate would be 62 percent. In families with children, labor force participation rates of wives rose between 1960 and 1974 as follows: caused in part by the postwar baby boom and in part simply by increased disposable family income, thus permitting greater expenditures on services and goods after basic necessities were purchased. Since the mid-1960's, the greatest labor force increase, by age group, has shifted to the younger women. Labor force participation rates in ages 20 to 34 have risen by 14 percentage points in 10 years, and 9 percentage points for those 35 to 44 years old. During the same period, increases for women in ages 45 to 64 moved up very few percentage points. The accelerated increases among younger women reflect not only their reduced child care responsibilities due to the declining birth rates of recent years, but several other changes. Among them are the greater proportions of women who have been to college and their greater propensity to be in the labor force; the generally The findings of the 1960-based worklife data show Worklife Expectancy at Birth. The increased participation of women in the work force, especially of young women, shows up in a dramatic increase in women's worklife expectancy. As the following tabulation shows, women's worklife expectancy at birth has been growing for a long time but the most dramatic increase has occurred since 1950. There has, of course, been some increase in worklife expectancy at birth for both men and women as a result of increased life expectancy, but from 1900 to 1960, worklife expectancy The strength and seriousness of American women's attachment to the labor force is provided by data which show that when women work, most do so on a full-time (35 hours a week or more) basis; and when most look for work, they look for full- rather than part-time jobs (tables 10 and 11). On the average, about 7 out of every 10 employed women hold full-time jobs (table 12). Moreover, 2 out of 5 married women with husbands present and over half of the widowed, divorced, or separated women in the labor force work an entire year at full-time jobs, as the tabulation shows. |