Closing The Gap

I read an article titled "Closing the gap" in The Economist. The article discusses how women have made great strides in the workplace, particularly the the mass arrival of women in the workplace in the 1970's. The article also alludes to the "quiet revolution", which as we learned in class, occurred in the mid 1970's when women's labor force participation dramatically rose. According to the article, "the proportion of women of working age who have paid jobs across the rich world has risen from 48% to 64%." From lecture, we also learned that one of the major causes of the "quiet revolution" had to do with the advent of new contraceptive technology, which eliminated the social dichotomy of having to choose between a family and a career. The article mentions this as well, stating "the Pill...allowed them to embark on a career first and leave marriage and children until later."

In addition, the article mentions two other causes for the "quiet revolution" which I don't think we discussed in lecture. The first cause has to do with women of the 1970's simply following in the footsteps of their mother. According to the article, "In the 1950s large numbers of married women took up work as secretaries, teachers, nurses, social workers and so on, often part-time. By the 1970s their daughters, having watched their mothers go off to work, took it for granted that they would do the same." The second cause has to do with divorce. From the article, "Many of them had also seen their parents get divorced, which made having an income of their own seem like a wise precaution."

Despite this evening of the playing field as far as labor force participation is concerned, the article goes on to mention how women still get lower pay and far fewer top jobs than men. It's curious then to see if this generation will bear witness to another "quiet revolution" of sorts in this regard.

Source: http://www.economist.com/node/21539928