Studies show that stay-at-home moms are trending.
For the first time since the post-war era, the percentage of women in the labor force has declined.
Alan Manning of the Centre for Economic Performance at the London School of Economics concluded that in 2008, 30% of mothers also assumed full-time roles in the labor force. That number has gown down to 29% since the onset of the recession.
The proportion of women born between 1985 and 1994 who are full-time participants in the labor force is below those born 10 years before them, following several decades of rising female employment rates. This fall is illustrated in the infographic below.
Economists believe that the causes of the downturn include the recession, a “decline in feminism” among young women, and societal change – including falling divorce rates.
The economic downturn may have very well forced many of these women out of the workplace, and with fewer marriages disintegrating, it alleviates the pressure for happily-wed mothers to juggle two full-time gigs.
As far as the proposed drop in feminism among the youth is concerned, NYU economics professor Raquel Fernandez asserts that:
They (young women) don’t believe they have to go out to work to prove themselves; if they want to spend the first five years at home with their kids, they are fine with that
Additional research indicates that the wage gap is still in effect and, according to a study by the Huffington Post this past Spring, has actually widened since 2011. Women reportedly earned 80.9% of what men earned in 2012 versus making 82.2% of their income for the same work in 2011. Manning’s study concluded that women are only earning 5% less than male counterparts in their respective roles.
What do you think about the decline of women in the labor force?
What if women embracing their motherhood over a life at the office is actually a demonstration of feminism at work and not the other way around?
What do you consider “true equality” anyway?
Let us know.
