A January 3rd article from THE ECONOMIST, “Female Power,” focuses on women in the “rich world”. http://www.economist.com/opinion/displaystory.cfm?story_id=15174418
For example…
-More women work. In the U.S. women compose 51% of professional workers.
-Contraception makes work possible.
-The “vacuum cleaner” makes work possible.
-More women work because contemporary jobs require brain power instead of muscle power.
-The cost of motherhood is high for aspirational women.
Two thoughts:
1. With this massive shift in female responsibilities, in nations that prohibit their females from contributing professionally, what will happen to economic growth?
2. In nations with a substantial female work force, how will families respond? How will a typical U.S family look in 2020?
Your thoughts?
Working Women
Elaine Schwartz
Elaine Schwartz has spent her career sharing the interesting side of economics. At the Kent Place School in Summit, NJ, she has been honored through an Endowed Chair in Economics and the History Department chairmanship. At the same time, she developed curricula and wrote several books including Understanding Our Economy (originally published by Addison Wesley as Economics Our American Economy) and Econ 101 ½ (Avon Books/Harper Collins). Elaine has also written in the Encyclopedia of New Jersey (Rutgers University Press) and was a featured teacher in the Annenberg/CPB video project “The Economics Classroom.” Beyond the classroom, she has presented Econ 101 ½ talks and led workshops for the Foundation for Teaching Economics, the National Council on Economic Education and for the Concord Coalition.