Female Discrimination in the Labor Force
In the past decades there has been a dramatic increase in the number of women
participating in the labor force. This expansion has unfortunately shown how women are
still being treated as inferior citizens when comparing their wages and the jobs they are
hired for to that of men. Many women in similar occupations as men, and having the
same qualifications are only paid a fraction of what their male counterparts are paid. The
only reasonable explanation that can be found for this income gap is discrimination. This
unfair treatment shown throughout the handouts illustrate how far people still have to go
before equal treatment becomes standard.
The increase in female participation started occurring during the 1970's. The
number of women in the civilian labor force jumped from 23 million in the 1960's to 31
million in the 1970's. This leap would continue and increase in the 1980's and on into the
Children!
Women move into the wartime labor force - NARA - 2...
Women move into the wartime labor force - NARA - 2...1990's. The result, in 1995, is a female labor force that numbers over 60 million. This
comprised 46 percent of the civilian work force (10).
A reason for the rise in participation by women may be in the way women saw
marriage and children. Fewer women saw marriage as a settling down. Women who had
children began to return to their jobs. The number of working women that were either
married or had children or both increased dramatically. In 1965, women with children
under 18 years of age numbered 35.0 percent of the labor force. This number increased
to 47.4 percent in 1975. In ten years it was 62.1 percent and finally in 1995 it had grown
to 69.7 percent (7). This showed that the female attitude towards having children and
marriage has changed.
According to the handouts, in 1970...