Women’s work and working women: The demand for female labor

The demand for female labor is a central explanatory component of macrostructural theories of gender stratification. This study analyzes how the structural demand for female labor affects gender differences in labor force participation. The authors develop a measure of the gendered demand for labor by index-ing the degree to which the occupational structure is skewed toward usually male or female occupations. Using census data from 1910 through 1990 and National Longitudinal Sample of Youth (NLSY) data from 261 contemporary U.S. labor markets, the authors show that the gender difference in labor force participation covaries across time and space with this measure of the demand for female labor. The first condition for the liberation of the wife is to bring the whole female sex back into public industry. —Friedrich Engels ([1884] 1942, 66) It is through gainful employment that woman has traversed most of the distance that separated her from the male; and nothing else can guarantee her liberty in practice. Once she ceases to be a parasite the system based on her dependence crumbles; between her and the universe there is no longer any need for a masculine mediator. —Simone De Beauvoir ([1949] 1989, 679) The kids are great. But going to work, that’s like, hmmmm, that’s like another reason to live. Since I went to work I’m more interested in life and life’s more interested in me. Latina store manager and mother of thre