Married Women's Participation Research Articles

Intercountry comparisons of labor force trends and of related developments: an overview.

This paper is a survey of analyses of women's labor force growth in 12 industrialized countries, presented at a conference in Sussex, England in 1983. The main focus is on growth of the labor force of married women from 1960-1980; trends in fertility, wages, and family instability are discussed. In all countries, wages of women were lower than wages of men, although between 1960 and 1980 labor force rates of married women rose in most of the industrialized countries. 2 factors that are associated with this growth are declines in fertility and increases in divorce rates. The 12 countries studied are: 1) Australia, 2) Britain, 3) France, 4) Germany, 5) Israel, 6) Italy, 7) Japan, 8) Netherlands, 9) Spain, 10) Sweden, 11) US, and 12) USSR. The substitution variables (wages of women or their education) have strong positive effects on labor force participation in most cases, and in most cases the positive wage elasticities exceed the negative income elasticities by a sizable margin. A summary table estimating parameters of the P-function for each country, and their predictive performance in time series, are included. From 1960-1980 the average per country growth in participation of married women was 2.84% per year. Wages of working women, in this same period grew, on average, faster than wages of men in most countries, in part due to selectivity by education in labor force growth. While growth rates of real wages across countries have a weak relation with the differential growth rates of married women's labor force, the relation is strong when country parameters are taken into account. The dominance of the "discouraged" over the "added" workers in female labor force growth appears to be upheld internationally. On the average, total fertility rate dropped from 2.42 in 1970 to 1.85 in 1980. Both fertility declines and the growth of family instability appear to represent lagged effects of longer term developments in the labor force of women. Women's wages are lower than men's wages in all countries; wage differentials narrowed in all other countries over the past 2 decades. This narrowing was due both to women's educational attainment catching up with men's, and to a positive educational selectivity of women's labor force growth during this period. Ultimately, without labor market discrimination and with equal educational attainment, the wage gap can be eliminated only when sex differences in lifetime work experience vanish.

A study of regional trends in the labour force participation of married women in the UK, 1968–1977

This paper presents a quarterly time-series analysis of regional trends in the labour force participation rate of married women in the UK for the period 1968–1977, using sample estimates of participation rates from the Family Expenditure Survey (FES). The use of FES data provides access to incorporated into UK regional time-series analysis. Labour force participation rates of married women are found to be related to the rate of unemployment amongst their husbands, the rise in real earnings of married women and the decline in the number of young children in households during 1968–1977. It is suggested that the reduction in earnings differentials between the regions has been a major factor contributing to the observed convergence of regional labour force participation rates of married women towards the national average.

Work and Income in the Family Economy: Belgium, 1853 and 1891

During the last twenty years the focus of research on the workingclass family has undergone an important shift. Most previous scholarship emphasized the physical and moral hardships of women and children in factories which had been so luridly detailed by contemporary reformers. More recent work does not belittle the hardships experienced in early industrialization, but rather emphasizes the positive and essential economic contributions of women and children to the family budget. The women and children who labored in nineteenth-century factories were not the first to spend their lives in toil and drudgery, and their economic contributions served to raise the standard of living among the laboring classes for the first time in history.1 This article describes the sources of income in the family economy of European workers during the nineteenth century, and analyzes the ways in which these sources changed in the second half of the century. Two unusual surveys of family budgets, conducted in Belgium in 1853 and 1891, make it possible to describe: (I) what proportions of children and married women participated in the wage labor force; (2) how much they worked; (3) what proportion of the total family budget they contributed; and (4) how each of these patterns changed during the last half of the nineteenth century. The main finding is a strong decline in the labor force participation of married women, no surprise to anyone who has followed recent developments in the history of

Happiness in dual-career couples: Changing research, changing values

This article offers a framework for understanding contradictory findings in the field of the dual-career couple by presenting two patterns: (1) the early, conventional one of the 1960s, which viewed married women's participation in the labor force as threatening marriage and the family, and (2) the contemporary view, which emerged during the 1970s and which admits that women can happily combine career with family. The article suggests that there is little evidence to support the view that dual-career couples experience increased rate of marital conflict, marital dissatisfaction, and role blur; rather, the intellectual and psychological benefits in dual-career couples seem to outweigh the disadvantages, particularly for wives.

International migration and labor force participation of married women

A focal issue in international immigration research has been immigration adaptation and assimilation and especially absorption and integration of immigrants into labor force roles. Nevertheless, such research has largely been focused on immigrant men, neglecting the systematic examination of labor force participation among immigrant women. This research is focused on the correlates of economic activity among immigrant and native born Jewish, urban, married females aged 18–54 in Israel. The specific objectives of the investigation are: (1) the impact of education, socioeconomic status, familial child care burdens, and ethnic background on the economic activity of native-born and immigrant, married women; and (2) to evaluate the extent to which the above patterns vary by veterancy and age. The data for this analysis are drawn from Israel's quarterly labor force survey of 6,000 families for 1970 and 1971. Education, socioeconomic status, ethnic origin, and child care burden were all found to have some effect on women's labor force participation; however, the pattern of effect was different for younger and older women and varied by veterancy status. Indications can be found in the data that age at immigration, or in other words the point in the women's life cycle at which immigration occurs, makes a difference in the type and strength of effect of immigration on labor force participation.

Labor Market Participation of Young Married Women: Causes and Effects

The increasing labor-force participation of married women cannot be adequately explained without taking into account the change in attitudes toward women working outside the home. Attitudes continue to be an important determinant of a woman's work status but are in turn influenced by her work status. Specifically, the findings are consistent with the interpretation that husbands' attitudes tend to become unfavorable toward women in the labor market when they become used to a wife who is a fulltime homemaker. Overall, the evidence points toward continuation of recent trends in female labor-force participation, unless there is prolonged severe unemployment.

A simultaneous analysis of the labour force participation of married women and the presence of young children in the family

The labour force participation of married women and the presence of young children in the family show a strongly negative correlation. In this article it is investigated whether this correlation is a reflection of a causal relationship between these two variables. To answer this question, a simultaneous logit analysis, following Mallax, is applied to data of the Dutch census of 1971 that are grouped by COROP region. The results suggest that there exists an asymmetric causal relationship between both variables with the causality running from the labour force participation of married women to the presence of young children in the family.

Necessity, Compatibility and Status Attainment as Factors in the Labor-Force Participation of Married Women

The probability is tested that a married woman will more likely participate in the labor force: (1) the lower the family income without her earnings; (2) the higher her occupational prestige potential; (3) the less her occupational prestige potential differs from her husbands; and (4) the more her occupational prestige potential exceeds the occupational prestige of her husband. Data from the General Social Surveys conducted between 1974 and 1977 support the importance of economic necessity and occupational potential but do not support either the effects of status compatibility or status enhancement. Beyond the effects of age children and the need for income occupational prestige potential is able to explain almost half again as much variance as the other variables combined. (authors)

The Distribution of Lifetime Labor Force Participation of Married Women: Reply to Mincer and Ofek

The Distribution of Lifetime Labor Force Participation of Married Women: Reply to Mincer and Ofek

Derksen's study of labour force participation of married women in the netherlands: Some comments and a further analysis

Derksen's study, which was published in 1975, is the first multiple regression analysis of Dutch data on the labour force participation of married women. After commenting on the theoretical model used by Derksen, this article has challenged his estimation procedures. It is shown that in the case under consideration weighted least squares is to be preferred to ordinary least squares and logit analysis seems to be an even more appropriate method.

Journey to work considerations in the labour force participation of married women

Andrews H. F. (1978) Journey to work considerations in the labour force participation of married women, Reg. Studies. 12, 11–20. Both working and non-working married female respondents were asked questions to gauge sensitivities to remaining in, withdrawing from or entering the labour force as a result of increasing journey to work times and costs. Similar indications of labour supply elasticity are found for both full-time and part-time workers, though considerable interregional variation exists. Associations between elasticity of supply, level of earnings, husband's attitudes and wive's contribution to total household income are also found. Presented with fixed and hypothetical levels of earnings, acceptable journey to work times vary similarly for both current workers and latent workers, though the supply elasticities for those currently working are somewhat higher.

Change and Stability in Sex‐Role Norms and Behavior

Sex‐role change is examined in terms of three models which focus on the relationship between norm and behavior in the process of change. Allport's J‐curve as a cross‐sectional description of change is illustrated by data on the participation of married women in the labor force over time. The diffusionist model is appropriate as a means of illuminating aspects of individual differences in readiness to accept innovations and to describe the succession of norms or expectations. Lipman‐Blumen's crisis model of change applies particularly to periods of forced or accelerated modification and allows also for retrogressive alterations in patterning. The conversion or “click” experience by which the individual absorbs the new innovative reality is discussed, as are some speculations as to eventual sex‐composition of specific roles, occupational and familial.

Working Wives: 1940-1960

Changes since 1940 in the rates and patterns of labor force participation of married women are examined using retrospective work histories of wives taken from the 1960 Growth of American Families Study. The effects of certain predictor variables, such as income of the husband, wage potential of the wife and number of children under six, on the probability of a woman working are determined for life cycle stages. Changes since 1940 in the effects of these predictors are examined using a single-equation, additive linear model and analysis of covariance techniques. The major hypothesis tested in this research is that significant changes have occurred since 1940 in the effects of the factors influencing working by wives. The research supports this hypothesis for the early stages of marriage and childbearing only. No changes in either probability of work activity between births or the effects of all predictors when these are considered together on this activity are found for wives with three or more children. When each causal variable is considered separately, a significant decrease is noted in the effects of those factors which tend to inhibit wives' working. Among these are the presence of children under six, the age of the wife and her educational level. The factors which tend to facilitate working, past labor force activity and wife's earning power, have tended to increase in effect or have remained strongly positive influences.

A Dynamic Analysis of Labor Force Participation of Married Women of Childbearing Age

The study for the first time relates labor force behavior of a panel of married women of childbearing age, over a ten-year period, to economic and noneconomic variables. The dependent variable, labor force attachment, is measured by current work behavior, work plans, and actual labor force participation for each woman over a decade. When this variable is related by multiple regression analysis to economic and sociological variables, the most important influences on a wife's labor force participation are found to be expected family size and wife's education. Since education for women is increasing and family size is expected to decrease, there should be an important increase in the labor force participation of younger married women in the coming decades.

An Analysis of the Factors Influencing Married Women's Actual or Planned Work Participation

Much has been written by both laymen and social scientists about a conflict of women's roles in American culture. It is here proposed that a more fruitful avenue of analysis is one that considers the factors which permit a satisfactory arrangement in relationship to a woman's performance in more than one role. The purpose of this research was to attempt to discover the factors that are related to actual or planned participation of married women with children in the labor force. All hypotheses tested were within the framework of the study's orientation of a workable arrangement being established between performance in the labor force and performance as a housewife and mother. Certain factors seemed to be either favorable or unfavorable, that is, seemed to either inhibit or encourage women to enter the occupational sphere. The following specific factors included in the study were mentioned by the respondents during the pretest:

Joint Decision-Making in Farm Families as a Function of Status and Role

THIS paper has arisen from two interests, one applied and the other theoretical. An assumption of a recent emphasis in cooperative extension work in agriculture and home economics, variously called and home and the and home unit approach, is that effective work in assisting families to make the best use of their resources requires the involvement of both husband and wife. Stated another way, the attainment of both farm and family goals requires joint discussion and consensus on the part of husband and wife. From a theoretical point of view this paper utilizes the concepts of status and role to explain the extent of joint involvement of husband and wife under varying conditions of size of farm business, indebtedness, and level of living. Students of the family have attempted to show how participation in decision-making is a function of cultural values and social structure.' The general notion is that the wife's participation in major decisions concerning the family is associated with the extent of patriarchalism in the family and the status of the wife. With greater emphasis upon democratic values and with increased education and social contacts of the wife, her status in the family becomes more comparable with that of the husband. Based upon this reasoning one would expect husband-dominated decision-making to be negatively associated with the adoption of technological changes on the farm and in the home. No significant associations were found between husband-dominated decisions and adoption of improved farm practices, however, in a study among farm owners in Wisconsin.2 On the other hand, Hill and associates show that communication between husband and wife is affected by the wife's feeling of respect for the husband and by her modesty, and that the extent of communication is positively associated with the acceptance of birth control measures among Puerto Rican families.3 Due to the inconsistencies of empirical findings with the implications of certain theoretical notions, two alternative hypotheses were tested. Stated in null form these are: Hypothesis 1: Joint involvement of husband and wife in major decisions is not associated with the social status of the wife as indicated by educational level and formal social participation. Hypothesis 2: The greater the degree of * revision of a paper presented at a joint session of the Rural Sociological Society and the American Sociological Society, Washington, D. C., August, 1957. Data for the paper were obtained as a part of a study of the evaluation of a farm and home development extension program for young farm families supported by the Cooperative Extension Service in Agriculture and Home Economics and by the Wisconsin Agricultural Experiment Station. The Numerical Analysis Laboratory provided assistance in computations for the study. Nancy Wood, Project Assistant, assisted in the techniques of analysis. 1 James S. Brown, The Farm Family in a Kentucky Mountain Neighborhood, Lexington: Kentucky Agricultural Experiment Station Bulletin 587, 1952, p. 32; Carle C. Zimmerman, Family and Civilization, New York: Harper and Brothers, 1947, Chapter 7; 0. A. Oeser and F. E. Emery, Social Structure and Personality in a Rural Community, New York: The Macmillan Co., 1954, Chapter 8; Eleanor Godfrey, A Construction of Family Types and Their Empirical Validation, doctoral dissertation, Harvard University, 1950; and Marion Levy, The Family Revolution in Modern China, Camhridvn. Mass: Harvard University Press. 1949. 2 E. A. Wilkening, Changes in Farming as Related to Familism, Family Decision-Making and Family Integration, American Sociological Review, 19 (February, 1954), pp. 29-37, and Adoption of Improved Farm Practices as Related to Family Factors, Madison: Wisconsin Agricultural Experiment Station Bulletin 183, 1953, Appendix Table 9. 3 Reuben Hill, Kurt Back and J. Mayone Stycos, Intra-family Communication and Fertility Planning in Puerto Rico, Rural Sociology, 20 (Sept.Dec.. 1955), nnp 25R-271.