Question

Has female labor force participation increased or decreased in recent decades? What is the distribution of higher education degrees like across genders? Aside from discrimination, what are the reasons that women earn less than men on average, despite having higher levels of educational attainment?

Short answer

• Female labor participation has increased in recent decades.

• The 2018 data shows that women of the U.S earned 141 degrees for every 100 degrees earned by men.

• Women still go for lower-paid jobs like education and home health care in large numbers, and firms offer part-time jobs more often than full-time jobs because of women’s higher number of leaves than men.

Step-by-step solution

Step 1. Female labor participation in the recent decade.

In 1960, the female labor force participation was 40 percent. But today the female labor participation is 60 percent. It shows that female labor participation has increased in the recent decade.

The distribution of higher education degrees across genders.

The women of the U.S. have earned the majority of higher education degrees than men. For 2018, women earned 141 degrees of bachelor’s, master’s, and doctoral degrees for every 100 degrees by men. It shows that women have increased their productivity level through better education and training.

Step 3. Reason behind women earning less than men.

Women shoulder much of the responsibility of rearing children and taking care of household activities. It is because of these responsibilities that women have more and longer leaves.So, many firms employ female candidates on a part-time basis instead of full-time.

The majority of the women workforce is engaged in sectors like education and home health care.These are low-paid jobs. Most of the high-paid jobs still demand the male workforce, creating income inequality between men and women.

The points mentioned above explain why women earn less than men despite a higher level of education.