Women's Work, Women's Lives: A Comparative Economic Perspective

This chapter provides a broad overview of women's economic status in all parts of the world, with special emphasis on their position relative to men. Large differences are found among countries and regions in the size of the gender gap with respect to such measures as labor force participation, occupational segregation, earnings, education, and to a some what lesser degree the amount of time spent on housework. Two generalizations, however, hold. Women have not achieved full equality anywhere, but particularly in the advanced industrialized countries for which data on the relevant variables are more readily available, there is evidence of a reduction of gender differences in economic roles and outcomes.

Labor force participation patterns and earnings of women clerical workers / BEBR No. 532

Includes bibliographical references (p. 33-34)."Few women, even today, remain in the labor market full time all their adult lives, and few give as high a priority to market work as men generally do. This paper investigates the impact of various patterns of labor force participation on the wage rate of female clerical workers, the single largest occupational category for women. It was found that while the effect of such variables as years of experience, years of hometime, percent time worked, and education is relatively modest, number of years with current employer has a large positive effect, and having been a service or blue collar worker has a significant negative effect. Over-all we conclude that a young woman who considers only the immediate effect of her labor market decisions during the early stages of her life cycle seriously underestimates their total long run results.

Political Orientation and the Decision to Major in Economics: Some Preliminary Observations

Studies find that students major in economics for a variety of reasons. None, however, have examined students' political orientations as a possible factor in their choice of majors. Economics, as compared to other social sciences, tends to produce conservative policy recommendations. This pilot study explores whether more conservative students are attracted to economics. Our study found that men with conservative political leanings are more likely to major in economics and that male students in economics are more conservative than female students. Political orientation, however, does not appear to be a significant factor in the choice of a major for women.

The long-term consequences of nontraditional employment

Lower pay of former temporary employees and higher pay of men formerly self-employed are likely caused by unobserved heterogeneity. Nonetheless, in wage growth models that eliminate this bias, past part-time work has a negative effect on current wages, which varies with gender and whether the part-time status was voluntary or involuntary. This article explores the question of whether workers who voluntarily choose nontraditional employment will eventually suffer serious deprivation as a result

Men and women PHD's in the sixties and seventies / 299

Includes bibliographical references

Sex Discrimination by Sex: Voting in a Professional Society

Economic theories of discrimination are usually based on tastes. The huge body of empirical studies, however, considers the discriminatory outcomes that are the reduced-form results of interactions between tastes and opportunity sets. None examines tastes for discrimination directly, or considers people's willingness to trade off other characteristics to indulge their tastes. We study these trade-offs using a set of data on votes for officers in a professional association. The evidence shows that female voters are much more likely to vote for female than for male candidates, and that other affinities between them and a candidate have little effect on their choices. Male voters are slightly more likely to vote for female candidates, but their choices are easily altered by other affinities to a candidate.

A "masculinização" da produção de leite.

O fortalecimento de organizações sociais que possibilitaram fazer da produção de leite uma atividade destinada ao mercado provocou profundas mudanças na divisão sexual do trabalho. A análise sociológica das trocas intradomiciliares nos estabelecimentos rurais familiares mostra que tradições culturais, diferenças de poder entre os gêneros e contextos sociais que ampliam diferenças de acesso aos mercados entre homens e mulheres são as bases sociais e culturais de uma hierarquia estruturada segundo sexo e geração, no qual as mulheres, especialmente as mais jovens, ocupam posições de grande desvantagem. Com o fortalecimento de cooperativas, a produção de leite passou a ocupar um lugar de destaque no provimento de recursos da família, mas o domínio da atividade foi deslocado para o controle masculino. Esse foi um dos resultados não esperados da forma como as organizações conduziram o processo de modernização da produção e de reestruturação dos mercados, que reforçaram ainda mais o domínio masculino sobre a produção familiar e um aumento das desigualdades de gênero no acesso aos recursos