Women in the Workforce: What Everyone Needs to Know ®

Laura M. Argys, Susan L. Averett

Oxford University Press, 2022 - Business & Economics - 252 pages

An accessible overview of the power of women in the economy and the obstacles they face

Women are joining the workforce in increasing numbers, making inroads as entrepreneurs and leaders, acquiring more education, marrying later, and having fewer children - all trends consistent with spending a far greater fraction of their adult lives in the labor force. And yet, even as women break
the glass ceiling and challenge gender and sexual norms, they are told they need to lean in and powerful movements like #TimesUP and #MeToo are still necessary to expose and overcome endemic discrimination, exploitation, harassment, and worse.

Women in the Workforce: What Everyone Needs to Know (R) provides an essential and accessible introduction to the significance of women in the economy and the obstacles they face in claiming equal status. Economists Laura M. Argys and Susan L. Averett tackle timely topics like the wage gap, women's
work, and gendered workplace interactions in an easy-to-read question and answer format. The book focuses on the choices people make and how these are framed by institutional impediments that create inequalities in the options available to men and women. Argys and Averett highlight how the
experience of being a woman in the labor market varies, sometimes dramatically, by race, ethnicity, sexual orientation, and socioeconomic status. They also explore how living in cities, towns, and rural areas influence choices and outcomes.

Covering a range of topics, from breastfeeding and work, earnings penalties for women who have taken time away from work, and childcare while women work, to the gender pay gap and the distinctive challenges women face as they age and transition to retirement, this book answers the essential
questions surrounding women in the workforce.

Contents

• An Overview: 1
• 1 Are Women an Important Part of the Economy?: 5
• 2 Is There Such a Thing as Womens Work?: 35
• 3 How Do Women Balance Work and Family?: 59
• 4 How Do Men and Women Interact in the Workplace?: 95
• 5 What Leads to the Gender Pay Gap?: 115
• 6 Do Women Earn Less Because Men Rule the World?: 157
• 7 Why Cant the Government Just Fix the Pay Gap?: 177
• 8 How Do Women Fare in Retirement?: 199
• Notes: 221
• Further Reading: 235
• Index: 237

About the author

Laura M. Argys is Professor of Economics at University of Colorado Denver. Susan L. Averett is Professor of Economics at Lafayette College. They are co-editors, along with Saul Hoffman, of The Oxford Handbook of of Women and the Economy.

Bibliographic information

• Title: Women in the Workforce: What Everyone Needs to Know ®; What everyone needs to know
• Authors: Laura M. Argys, Susan L. Averett
• Publisher: Oxford University Press, 2022
• ISBN: 0190093390, 9780190093396
• Length: 252 pages
• Subjects: BUSINESS & ECONOMICS / Economics / General