Weekly Whims of a Wild Type
April 27, 2006

Why Do Women Work?

EQSQ.com Columnist

Would you be surprised to know that it is in countries where women don't go to work that birth rates are lowest? You might think it should be the other way around: that in countries where women don't work the birth rate would be highest. Apparently, this is not the case. Children are expensive and it could be that women work simply so they can afford to have children.

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Do Women Work Because They Can?
Time studies reported in the Economist indicate that women have more leisure time now than they did forty years ago (and twenty, and ten). Although moms spend just as much time on childcare as they ever did; refrigerators, dishwashers, washing machines, microwave ovens, and vacuum cleaners mean they spend less time on housework. Could it be that women work just because they can?

Do Women Work for the Money?
The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data reveals that women, on average, are paid less than men. This can be explained partly by maternity leave absences (a prolonged absence from the workplace for any reason can result in lower pay), but that's not the whole story. The UK (a developed country comparable to the U.S.) Office for National Statistics examines salaries for different age groups. It can be seen that in the under-30's there is very little wage discrimination, whereas in the over-50's discrimination is rife. Not so much a thing of the past, then, as a thing of the present for people born further in the past...So young women, at least, work for the money, maybe?

Do Women Work for the Global Economy?
Another observation made by the Economist is that, "...over the past decade or so, the increased employment of women in developed economies has contributed much more to global growth than China has." Translated, this means that women previously destined to be "only" housewives have created more worldwide wealth than one billion Chinese.

Why do women work? Who cares?! Let's just be glad that they do.