PAGENO="0001" 95th Congress ~ JOINT COMMITTEE PRINT 1st Session - -/~ - ~ -~ ~4 ~ ~çJ~ ~ ~ -~ ~` AMERICAN WOMEN WORKERS IN A FULL EMPLOYMENT ECONOMY A COMPENDIUM OF PAPERS SUBMITTED TO THE SUBCOMMITTEE ON ECONOMIC GROWTH AND STABILIZATION OF THE JOINT ECONOMIC COMMITTEE CONGRESS OF THE UNITED STATES ~ ~ ~ ~SEBTE~\IBER 15, 1977 4~ ~ DEN~ ~`J~ J~ o8:Lo2 - :~QVERNMENT DOCUMENT Printed for the use of the Joint Economic Committee U.S. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE 91-686 WASHINGTON: 1977 For sale by the Superintendent of Documents, U.S. Government Printing Office Washington, D.C. 20402 ~-i 1c ~ 1 ~ 1971 ,~j r9 / c~ CA ~4 ~ PAGENO="0002" JOINT ECONOMIC COMMITTEE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES HENRY S. REUSS, Wisconsin WILLIAM S. MOORHEAD, Pennsylvania LEE H. HAMILTON, Indiana GILLIS W. LONG, Louisiana OTIS G. PIKE, New York CLARENCE J. BROWN, Ohio GARRY BROWN, Michigan MARGARET M. HECKLER, Massachusetts JOHN H. ROUSSELOT, California CHARLES H. BRADFORD STEPHEN J. ENTIN M. CATHERINE MILLER SENATE ABRAHAM RIBICOFF, Connecticut JACOB K. JAVITS, New York WILLIAM V. ROTH, JR., Delaware SENATE JOHN SPARKMAN, Alabama WILLIAM PROXMIRE, Wisconsin ABRAHAM RIBICOFF, Connecticut LLOYD BENTSEN, Texas EDWARD M. KENNEDY, Massachusetts JACOB K. JAVITS, New York WILLIAM V. ROTH, JR., Delaware JAMES A. McCLURE, Idaho ORRIN G. HATCH, Utah PHILIP MCMARTIN DEBORAH NORELLI GEORGE R. TYLER GEORGE D. KRUMBHAAR, Jr. MARK R. POLICINSKI HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES RICHARD BOLLING, Missouri LEE H. HAMILTON, Indiana GARRY BROWN, Michigan MARGARET M. HECKLER, Massachusetts (Created pursuant to sec. 5(a) of Public Law 304, 79th Cong.) RICHARD BOLLING, Missouri, Chairman HUBERT H. HUMPHREY, Minnesota, Vice Chairman JOHN R. STARK, Eccecutive Director Louis C. KRAUTHOFF II, Assistant Director RICHARD F. KAUFMAN, General Counsel G. THOMAS CATOR WILLIAM A. Cox THoMAS F. DERNBURG ROBERT D. HAMRIN ECONOMISTS KENT H. HUGHES SARAH JACKSON JOHN R. KARLIK L. DOUGLAS LEE MINORITY SUBCOMMITTEE ON ECONOMIC GROWTH AND STABILIZATION HUBERT H. HUMPHREY, Minnesota, Cochairman LLOYD BENTSEN, Texas, Cochairman (II) PAGENO="0003" LETTERS OF TRANSMITTAL SEPTEMBER 12. 1977. To the Members of the Joint Economic Committee: Transmitted herewith is a compendium of papers entitled "Ameri- can Women Workers in a Full Employment Economy." This com- pendium was prepared for the use of the Economic Growth and Sta- bilization Subcommittee. These papers supplement testimony at hearings of the Joint Eco- nomic Committee on economic problems of women held in July of 1973 under the chairmanship of the Honorable Martha Griffiths. Since then, the influx of women into the American labor force has acceler- ated and their progress toward economic quality with men has risen still higher on the national agenda. Today, more than ever before, the formulation of national economic policy requires both a stronger data base on women's employment, and a broader consensus on how to maxi- mize their further contributions to the U.S. econowy. I believe that these papers will be helpful to the members of the Joint Economic Committee and other Members of Congress in their assessment of these critical issues. The 22 experts-economists, lawyers, sociologists, educators-who contributed to the compendium were selected and their views edited and summarized by Ann Foote Calm, consultant. The views expressed in these papers are those of the authors, and do not necessarily repre- sent the views of committee members or the committee staff. Sincerely, RICHARD BOLLING, Chairman, Joint Economic Committee. SEPTEMBER 7. 1977. Hon. RICHARD BOLLING, Chair~1nan, Joint Economic Committee, U.S. Congress, TVcishi'cgton, D.C. DEAR Mu. CI-IAIRMAN: Transmitted herewith is a compendium of papers entitled "American Women Workers in a Full Employment Economy." This compendium of papers was prepared for the use of the Subcommittee on Economic Growth and Stabilization in its in- yes tigation of structural labor force problems. In ~July 1973, the Joint Economic Committee. under the chair- manship of the Honorable Martha Griffiths, heard testimony on the "Economic Problems of Women." In the interim, the influx of women into the American labor force has accelerated and their progress to- ward economic equality with men has become an item of far greater (III) PAGENO="0004" Iv national importance. Today, more than ever, the formulation of na- tional economic policy requires a stronger data base for women's employment and a broader consensus on how to maximize their further contributions to the U.S. economy. We believe that this compendium has initiated this search for more informa:tion a.cross numerous vital areas. The collected studies encompass topics. ranging from structural job discrimination, underemployment, part-time work, education and career training, tax treatment of working wives, to international ex- perience in meeting the needs of working women. Twenty-two experts-economists, lawyers, sociologists, educators- were invited to contribute to this compendium. These authors were selected and their views edited and summarized by Ann Foote Calm, consultant. We are indebted to the authors for giving so generously of their time and to Ms. Calm for her supervision. The project was developed under the direction of Sarah Jackson of the committee staff, with the assistance of M. Catherine Miller, also of the committee staff. The views expressed in these papers are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent the views of subcommittee members or the committee staff. Sincerely, HUBERT H. HUMPHREY, Cochairman, Subcommittee on * Economic Growth and Stabilization. SEPTEMBER 1, 1977. Hon. HUBERT H. HUMPHREY, Cochairman, Subcommittee on Economic Growth and Stabilization, Joint Economic Com'in1ittee, U.S. Congress, Washingto'rt, D.C. * Th~&R SENATOR HUMPHREY: Transmitted herewith is a compendium of papers entitled "American Women Workers in a Full Employment Economy." This compendium of papers was prepared for the use of the Subcommittee on Economic Growth and Stabilization. The Joint Economic Committee has involved itself with the eco- nomic problems of women since July of 1973 when hearings were held under the chairmanship of Martha Griffiths. These problems have become more complex over time and the steadily increasing number of women coming into the labor force has focused more attention on this phenomenon. It has become increasingly apparent that national economic policy for full employment cannot be developed without incorporating a solution to both the problem and the potential of women in the labor force. For these reasons, we believe that the first step in policy development is a greater understanding on women's labor force participation, their economic progress and supportive social programs. We believe that this compendium has initiated this search for more information in a number of vital areas. The collected studies encompass topics ranging from structural job discrimination, underemployment, part- time work, education and career training, tax treatment of working wives, to international experience meeting the needs of working women. PAGENO="0005" V Twenty-two experts-economists, lawyers, sociologists, educators- were invited to contribute to this compendium. These authors were selected and their views edited and summarized by Ann Foote Cahn, consultant. We are indebted to the authors for giving so generously of their time and to Ms. Cahn for her supervision. The project was de- veloped under the direction of Sarah Jackson of the committee staff, with the assistance of M. Catherine Miller, also of the committee staff. The views expressed in these papers are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent the views of subcommittee members or the committee staff. Sincerely, JOHN IR. STARK, Executive Director, Joint Economic Committee. PAGENO="0006" PAGENO="0007" CONTENTS Page Letters of transmittal ~_ III AMERICAN WOMEN WORKERS IN A FULL EMPLOYMENT ECONOMY Summary-By Ann Foote Cahn 1 I. OVERVIEW Women's stake in full employment: Their disadvantaged role in the economy-Challenges to action-By Mary Dublin Keyserling 25 On the way to full equality-By Isabel V. Sawhill 40 II. OVERCOMING BARRIERS The legal road to equal employment opportunity: A critical view-By Mary C. Dunlap - 61 Legal remedies beyond title VII to combat sex discrimination in employ- ment-By Marcia Greenberger and Diane Gutmann 75 De facto job segregation-By Barbara B. Reagan 90 Women workers, nontraditional occupations and full employment-By Beatrice G. Reubens and Edwin P. Reubens 103 Underemployment of women: Policy implications for a full employment economy-By Gerald P. Glyde 127 Lifetime participation in the labor force and unemployment among mature women-By Steven H. Sandell 142 III. SUPPORT SERVICES AND ADJUSTED CONDITIONS The homemaker, the family, and employment-By Nona Glazer, Linda Majka, Joan Acker, and Christine Bose 155 Economic aspects of child care-By Myra H. Strober 170 Part-time work-By Carol S. Greenwald 182 IV. EDUCATION AND EMPLOYMENT Facilitating full employment of women through career education-By Anita M. Mitchell 195 Vocational education-By Pamela Ann Roby 203 Apprenticeship-By Norma Briggs - 225 V. KEY FACTORS: TAX TREATMENT AND MEDIA IMAGES Federal income tax and social security law-By Grace Ganz Blumberg._ 237 The impact of mass-media stereotypes upon the full employment of women-By Gaye Tuchman 249 VI. INTERNATIONAL COMPARISONS Working women: European experience and American need-By Alice H. Cook 271 (VII) PAGENO="0008" vm ALPHABETICAL LIST OF CONTRIBUTORS *Page Joan Acker 155 Grace Ganz Blumberg 237 ChristineBose____ 155 Norma Briggs 225 Alice H. Cook 271 Mary C. Dunlap 61 Nona Glazer 155 Gerald P. Glyde 127 Marcia Greenberger CarolS. Greenwald 182 Diane Gutmann Mary Dublin Keyserling~ - - -- 25 Linda Majka 155 AnitaM. Mitchell~____- 195 Barbara B. Reagan - 90 Beatrice G. Reubens 103 Edwin P. Reubens 103 Pamela Ann Roby 203 Steven H. Sandell - 142 Isabel V. Sawhill~~___ 40 Myra H. Strober 170 Gaye Tucliman 249 PAGENO="0009" SUMMARY Br ANN FOOTE CAHN* CONTENTS Page I. Overview - 1 A. Status of women workers 2 B. Macroeconomic and microeconomic policies - 3 II. Overcoming barriers 5 A. Legal action against sex-based discrimination in employment.. 5 B. Increasing access to nontraditional jobs 7 C. Underemployment 8 D. Special problems of mature women -- 10 E. Minority women 11 P. Teenagers 12 III. Support services and adjusted conditions 12 A. The homemaker, the family and employment: Some inter- relationships 12 B. Economic aspects of child care 13 C. Part-time work 15 D. Maternal and other health needs 16 IV. Education and work 17 A. Career education 17 B. Vocational education 18 C. Apprenticeship 18 D. Higher education 19 V. Key factors: Tax treatment and media images - 20 A. Impact of the tax system and social security on labor force participation 20 B. Effects of mass media stereotypes on women's employment__ 21 Conclusion 22 I. OVERVIEW Consideration of proposals for a national policy of full employment has led to an increasing awareness that insufficient attention has here- tofore been given to the role of women workers and potential workers. In seeking to correct this relative lack of attention, a growing body of economic literature, of which this compendium is a part, has sought to spotlight the past, present, and foreseeable job role of American women, and those factors responsible for change. But events in the form of women's own activity-their extraordinary influx into the labor market-have outdistanced theory and intensified the need for more up-to-date understanding. The single most outstanding phenomenon of our century [is the huge number of women who are entering the work force.] Its long term implications are ab- solutely unehartable in my opinion. It will affect women. men and children and the cumulative consequences of that will oniy be revealed in the 21st and 22nd century (Eli Ginzberg) .~ *Consultant to the committee. 1 Mr. Ginzberg is Chairman of the National Commission for Manpower Policy and Columbia University economist. New York Times, Sept. 12, 1976, p. 1. (1) PAGENO="0010" 2 Even the short-range consequences of women's massive entry into the work force are only beginning to be understood and addressed by society. The root causes of the phenomenon have become clearer, if only in retrospect: the psychological revolution in women's attitude toward themselves, toward men, and toward women's role in society; the change in women's lifestyles, as evidenced by their later age. of mar- riage and childbirth, as well as reduction of the size of family; the desire of married women and men to have two incomes so as, in the case of many couples, to enjoy at least minimal living standards, and in the case of other couples, to achieve more comforts and conveniences; and the increase of separation and divorce, forcing women to be self- supporting. With so many antecedents. it is not surprising that women's aspira- tions generate profound pressures of both a. quantitative and qualita- tive nature for iiicreased and improved job opportunities. These pres- sures are substantial in an economy which has set a limited goal of re- ducing unemployment somewhat below mid-1970's levels. For an econ- omy that raises its sights to the achievement of full employment, the pressures become still stronger, more complex, and pervasive. Thus, the relationship tends to be reciprocal: women seeking job opportunity and equality urge a national policy of full employment in order to at- tam their economic goals, and for men to do likewise: once such a na- tional policy is declared, it cannot be fully realized without upgrading women's lagging role in the job market. The goal of this compendium is to view women's overall role in a full employment economy and then their particular probleiiis in fulfilling that role. It begins with an overview by two economists; then continues with 15 chapters by economists, lawyers. educators, and other scholars, arranged in five sections: Overcoming barriers; support services and adjusted conditions; education and employment; key factors: tax treatment and media images; and international comparisons. In the description which follows, the views of the authors in the compendium have been summarized with only limited interpolation in the interest of communicating directly the tone and substaiice of their respective views. A. Status of Women Workers Essential to setting future national policy is an awareness as to women's current status in the labor market: why they work, what oc- cupations and industries they work in, problems they encounter, and remedies that might help resolve the problems. As of December 1976, 39 million women aged 16 and over were in the labor force. The proportion of the labor force between the ages of 18 to 64 who were women reached 56 percent. During the past. quarter of a century, while t.lie total labor force grew hi- about 31 million, women constituted more than three-fifths of the increase. In every age group, the proportion of women who are working has steadily risen. Particularly notable, the rate for married women with husbands present and with children under the age of 18 increased nearly 21/2 times during 1950-75, while for those with children under the age of 6, the rate more than tripled. Women's entry into the labor market has been facilitated by growth of the economy, and of service jobs in particular, but it has not been PAGENO="0011" 3 achieved without difficulties. Unemployment among women has con- sistently averaged higher than for men during the past 30 years. In 19Th women's unemployment hit a post-World War II peak of 9.3 percent; it averaged 8.6 percent during 1976. Comparable figures for men were 7.9 percent and 7 percent, respectively. With substantial unemployment among both males and females, family incomes decline, poverty increases, public revenues drop and the Nation utilizes fewer resources to meet the needs of men, women, and children. Women are motivated by a new set of aspirations and needs in their efforts to achieve equality with men. Economic independence is a basic goal for women. Psychological rewards are the "pull" behind their desire to work. Women-like men-gain increased self-reliance and confidence, have more power to influence events, and enjoy the satis- faction that comes from contributing their talents to the world at large. New social and economic realities are the "push" behind women's need for employment. In 1975, 42 percent of women workers were single, widowed, separated, or divorced and needed to support themselves and their dependents. An additional 28 percent were mar- iied to men who earned less than $10,000 a year. A new sociocultural pattern has emerged: in 49 percent of all marriages, both spouses were working, as of 1975. Once employed, women are likely to want to continue working. A sample of employed women were asked whether they would continue to work for pay even if there were no economic necessity; 59 percent answered yes. Because. women are concentrated in a relatively few low-paying occu- pations and remain at the lower rungs of the job ladder, they con- tinue to earn far. less money than men; they earn less than 60 percent of men's earnings. For many years, the median earnings differential on the basis of sex was attributed in large measure to the discontinuity in women's employment. While this was a major factor in earlier years, when a large percentage of working women left the labor force after marriage to have children, the discontinuity of women's employ- ment has decreased in recent years. There is markedly less difference in the worklife expectancy of the two sexes today. B. Macroeconomic and il!icroeconom/ic Policies The Employment Act of 1946 set forth a mandate "to promote maximum employment, production, and purchasing power." "Maxi- mum employment" presumably means employment of those who want to work, and applies equally to men and women. "Maximum produc- tion" ca.n be construed to mean that people of both sexes should be. able to work in jobs where they will be most productive. Even under the limited goals of the 1946 act, assessment of the intention of women to enter and remain in the job market has become essential to optimal economic planning. But the Bureau of Labor Statistics has consistently underestimated the. growth in the female labor force: in 1973. the. BLS projected a participation rate for women in 1980 that was already exceeded in 1974. Accurate prediction and planning are particularly important to women's employment pros- pects, which may be affected by future macroeconomic policy even more than men's prospects. PAGENO="0012" 4 For instance, the latest Government figures indicate that women, teenagers, and blacks have benefited least from the decline in unem- ployment over the past 2 years, and experienced male workers have benefited the most. While the decline was approximately 40 percent among experienced workers, it was far less for new entry and reentry workers, primarily women and youth. Decline was 25 percent for full- time workers, oniy 7 percent for those seeking part-time work, again primarily women, and 12 percent for teenagers.~ What would be the effect on women's employment if a Full Em- ployment Act were passed and fully implemented? A proponent, Mary Dublin Keyserling, projects that reducing unemployment to 4 per- cent by mid-1981 would add about 9 million job holders to the labor force over and above the number employed in 1976. An estimated 60 to 65 percent of these jobs would be available to women, for women represent a very large part of the reservoir of potential workers on which a fully growing economy can draw. Unemployment among women, both as recorded officially and hidden, would be reduced far more percentagewise than among men. Welfare outlays would diminish sharply, for many women now on public assistance would want employment and would be able - to obtain it. Healthy rates of economic growth would also encourage wage gains for these now earning sub-subsistence wages, the majority of whom are women. Would these sanguine projections be accompanied, it may be asked, by some adverse consequences for both men and women? Would fur- ther intervention by the Federal Government in the job market, en- tailing increased Federal spending and taxation, lead to a rising price spiral, an expensive rise in public employment and harmful disloca- tions in the private economy, as opponents counter? Answers to these questions would require a definitive evaluation of full employment policy, per Se, as it relates to all segments of the economy. For purposes of the present compendium, the focus is neces- sarily more limited-to consider some of the implications of future policy and, at this point, to examine job problems of women under present and past national policy. To maintain economic equilibrium between inflation and unemploy- ment, Isabel V. Sawhill suggests that national policy should not rely solely on fiscal and monetary policies. She supports a selective set of employment or income (wage-price) policies. On the employment side, these measures would target programs at those groups which have above average unemployment-women, teenagers, and minorities. With the possible exception of the latter, these groups have a common characteristic of a lack of recent labor market experience. In helping to overcome women's problems of transition from school or home to work, a broad variety of measures are needed: To provide new skills or upgrade old skills, to end job discrimination and to provide sup- port services for homemakers. Nationwide job policies should take into account the local and regional variation in both the number of jobs available and the num- ber of jobs desired. On the demand side, women's participation in the labor force varies widely by State and by urban, suburban and rural sections. The chief but not sole cause of disparities in participation is the variation on the supply side, that is, differences in the local avail- ability of jobs. A further factor on the demand side is the varia- tion in projections of employment growth by regions for 1970-1985; la "Jobs Rise Helps Males Most," the Washington Star (May 8, 1977), p. A5. PAGENO="0013" 5 the range in growth rates is from a low of 21 percent in New England to 38 percent in the far west. In addition, projections of the occupa- tional composition of employment in the future reveal disparities between the likely developments in specific job openings and the prepa- ration and wishes of both men and women. There follow now the principal findings and recommendations by the compendium authors on selective problems experienced by women. II. OVERCOMING BARRIERS Although the Nation is committed by law to job equality be- tween men and women, there is still a wide gap between the goal and its fulfillment. Legal enforcement of programs against dis.. crimination lags; other impediments to equality-economic, cul- tural, psychological~persist. Be facto occupational segregation still restricts an overwhelming number of women to a narrow range of low-paying, dead-end jobs which are traditionally "fe- male." Underemployment is more characteristic of the female than of the male work force. Mothers' and homemakers' intermit- tent entry and reentry into the job market is penalized instead of assisted by society. Mature women face special problems in resum- ing a role in the labor force and would benefit from specialized support measures. A. Legal Action Against Sex-Based Discrimination in Employment Equal employment opportunity-without regard to sex-will not be achieved until judicial decisions more fully implement the provisions of title VII of the U.S. Civil Rights Act of 1964 and other laws and regulations against sex-based discrimination, and the responsible administrative authorities more adequately en- force the antidiscrimjnatjon provisions within their jurisdiction. After more than a decade of title VII litigation involving se~ discrimination in employment, widespread patterns of stratification, underutilization and disparate compensation continue throughout the Nation's work force. One indicator as to the inadequacy of legal rem- edy is that from 1965 to 1975, only 13 percent of all sex discrimination court cases were awarded "class relief." This is despite the fact that such relief is supposed to be awarded under title VII whenever a policy or practice has harmed a protected group by discrimination, necessi- tating relief to the class to make it whole. While deciding numerous cases concerning racial discrimination claims under title VII, the IJ.S. Supreme Court had decided but one case concerning a sex discrimi- nation claim under title VII, as of December 1976. During the past decade, in Federal District and Appelate Courts, express exclusionary policies have been repeatedly deemed to violate title VII, but subtler forms of sex discrimination and those based on statistical demonstrations of disparate treatment of women have re- ceived less even treatment by Federal courts. Mary C. Dunlap con- tends that, with some exceptions, "judicial standards governing dis- position of sex discrimination cases have diverged substantially from standards developed in race discrimination cases under title VII," i.e., a double standard is beina followed. She feels that an overall improve- naent in the courts could he fostered by affirmative action in Federal PAGENO="0014" 0 judicial appointments, to help overcome the disproportionate under- representation of women. (In 1975, the Federal bench had more than 600 judges. Just six of those judges, including 1 black, were women.) Over and above title VII, there are a number of other Federal pro- hibitions against sex discrimination in employment, including the Equal Pay Act of 1963 (EPA), Executive Order 11246, and title IX of the Education Amendments Act of 1972. Despite various difficul- ties, major gains have come from private citizens bringing direct lawsuits. In contrast, Govermnent agencies appear to lack commitment and are found to be inadequately enforcing the sex discrimination laws aiid regulations for which they are responsible, such as EPA and Executive Order 11246. Under the Equal Pay Act, which is concerned with discrimination in compensation only, the Wage and Hour Division of the Depart- ment of Labor can conduct investigations of employers' compliance with the Act, whether or not au employee makes a. complaint. Al- though the Division's actions to date have been limited, the large sums of money found due to thousands of women, as for example iii the America.n Telephone and Telegraph case. indicate the pervasive nature ~of sex discrimination in wage rates. As in the case of the Equal Em- ployment Opportunity Commission.2 which administers title VII. the baeklog of EPA cases awaiting action is unduly large. Executive Order 11246 prohibits Federal contract funds from going to employers who discriminate in their employment policies and prac- tices. One of its strong advantages is that it requires contractors to develop affirmative action plans. Its disadvantage is that, unlike title VII and EPA, individuals cannot sue directly, but must rely oii the Office of Federal Contract Compliance, or one of the 11 Federal con- tract compliance agencies, to investigate complaints filed. The Gov- ernment Accounting Office (GAO), which recently reviewed the en- forcement efforts under this Executive order. has found them seriously ineffective. Virtually no Federal funds have been terminated because of sex discrimination practices. Enforcement of title IX, which prohibits sex cTiscrimination in employment or student programs or policies of educational institutions receiving Federal funds, also has been found by the GAO to be seriously inadequate. Since the Government is not carrying out its function, the effectiveness of title IX may hinge on whether individuals and groups can sue schools directly; several pending court cases will determine the answer to this question. Early passage of the Equal Rights Amendment by the three addi- tional States necessary to assure constitutional ratification is urged by Keyserling. Although it is difficult to foresee all the effects of a constitutional amendment, proponents of ERA feel that it will have a strong salutory effect, if only because of the psychological message it will carry-that is, sex-based discrimination must be eradicated. On the congressional front, equal rights advocates seek to undo the decision of December 6~ 1976, by the Supreme Court which struck down a lower court ruling that General Electric Co.'s exclusion of pregnancy and childbirth from disability income and sick pay violated `See, for example, "The EEOC Has Made Limited Progress in Eliminating Employment Discrimination," a report to the Senate Committee on Labor and Public welfare (Wash- lngton, D.C. General Accounting Office, October 1976). PAGENO="0015" title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, as written. Proponents of cor- rective legislation regard it as essential in order to close what they view to be a large loophole opened by the Supreme Court in title Vii's prohibition against sex-based discrimination. If, for purposes of dis- ability insurance or sick pay, pregnancy is treated any differently than a man's elective medical decision, proponents feel the result is to legitimize discrimination against women. The insurance industry points out that if pregnancy expenses were uniformly covered, the resultant costs would be about 6 percent more than is currently being spent for disability income and sick pay plans. These costs would be borne directly and indirectly by both men and women. B. Increasing Access to Nontrad~tsonaZ Jobs Countermeasures are suggested against what is regarded as women's de facto job segregation in traditional jobs-a condition which limits women's economic and psychological satisfactions and lowers the total economic product of society. Forty percent of employed women are still concentrated in 10 traditional fields-secretary, retail trade salesworker, bookkeeper, private household worker, elementary schoolteacher, waitress, typist, cashier, sewer/stitcher and registered nurse. In those 10 fields, women comprise 80 percent or more of the workers, except for retail trade sales personnel, where they make up 69 percent. Male employment shows much less concentration, with less than 20 percent of male workers in the 10 largest occupations. The tendency of women to cluster in a few selected occupations contributes to overcrowding, which in turn is a factor in relatively low wages. A common characteristic of these occupations is that, with the excep- tion of bookkeepers, teachers and registered nurses, they require com- paratively little training; with easy entry, supply tends to exceed demand. A first step toward ending overconcentration is to improve guidance counseling and widen the range of job training. These efforts will not in themselves alter de facto job segregation; barriers may persist against women's entry into other fields. Even in traditional "female" occupations, there is a lack of promo- tion opportunities. One study noted that two-thirds of all jobs in New York City municipal hospitals do not have educational or training requirements for entry, but neither do they have promotional possibili- ties. Analysis of 270 labor market segments in the occupational- industry matrix showed that only 38 had a considerable proportion of their jobs organized for promotion based on on-the-job training. Few of the 38 had many women employees. A view of overall trends among the Nation's occupations does show that occupational segregation is beginning to give way-slowly. The rate of growth of women workers in occupations characterized as male intensive (75 percent or more of employment in the occupation is male) has been faster than in women's employment as a whole. But female entry has often occurred in shrinking or dying occupations which men no longer want. Among blue collar and lower level occupations where women have made large gains in their share, total and male employ- ment have either been declining or increasing quite slowly. PAGENO="0016" 8 In certain occupations where there is "sluggish" overall growth, with the niunber of male jobs increasing, if only slightly, the female propor- tion has risen, but the outlook for future growth of the field itself is limited. This includes such fields as upholsterers, furniture finishers, bartenders, recreation attendants, and lumber mspectors. Strong growth of female employment in male intensive occupations is closely associated with rapid expansion of total employment in these managers rose approximately 2,000 percent between 1960 and 1974; the female share of employment rose from 9 percent to 21 percent. Women moving from female intensive to male intensive jobs do earn more money than formerly, but tend not to earn the same amount of money as the men who are doing identical work. Thus, opening non- traditional jobs to women will not, of itself, lead to equalized earnings. Nor do all women want nontraditional jobs. Rather, the individual woman will make her choices based not only on pay, but on job satis- faction, educational background, working conditions, stability of em- ployment, prestige, husband's type of employment and other factors. For better educated women, the minimal goal of equal access to and participation in suitable jobs is still to be achieved. In male-dominated professions such as law, medicine, and accounting, the proportion of women has increased only slightly. Occupational segregation is more likely to persist if full employ- ment is not achieved. Unless there is a much closer approximation to full employment, the failure to satisfy the demand for jobs in numerical terms will preclude any serious effort on the desegregation front, i.e., to provide the types of jobs which will meet the demand for greater similarity in the occupational distribution of men and women. (Beatrice G. Reubens and Edwin P. Reubens.) C. Underemplo~inuint The reduction of widespread underemployment, with its waste of human resources, will require governmental policies which en- able women to obtain jobs that match their abilities and skills. Underemployment is defined as: An involuntary employment condition where workers are in jobs, either part- time or full-time, in which their skills, including formal and work experience training, are technically underutilized and thus undervalued relative to those of other individuals of similar ability who have made equivalent investments in skill development. (Gerald P. Glyde.) There is no adequate measure of underemployment at the present time. Employers' inaccurate perceptions and imperfect labor market in- formation may contribute to bias against hiring women workers for jobs appropriate to their abilities. Employers may choose not to hire women based on an over-generalization as to women's weaker attach- ment to the labor force. The fact that many women do interrupt their job continuity does not constitute a justification for prejudice by an employer against all women. A women or number of women applying for a particular vacancy may have as strong or stronger labor force attachment than a particular male applicant or applicants. Internal or within-firm hiring and promotion may likewise be based on employer misperceptions. Even though they may have equivalent skills, women "outsiders" competing with men "insiders" for job PAGENO="0017" 9 vacancies above the entry level may tend to have their ability dis- counted. Women within a firm may also be discounted because of an employer's continued misconception of their anticipated "quit rate" and because of occupational segregation. Four other factors contributing to underemployment are: The lack of suitable part-time work; intermittent home and family duties, which can result not only in a decrease of skills, but in women's loss of con- fidence to compete for jobs; the customary primacy of a husband's career, which may necessitate women's geographic moves; credential- ism, although there have been few validations of a correlation between credentials and job performance. Because of women's concentration in a more limited number of edu- cational courses and occupations, and because of the increased entry of women into the labor market, they are less able to compete effec- tively as the demand for a given skill ebbs. Women (and men as well) become caught by the time-lag between the period that the market signals a decline in a particular type of job and the time that college students (or other trainees) begin to shift away from that particular career choice. Women who are already employed are less able to trans- fer to new fields because of job segregation, and they are less likely than men to invest in retraining because women's return on that in- vestment will be smaller. Recommendations for remedying women's underemployment tend to be the same or similar to those recurrently proposed throughout the compendium as remedies for a host of other problems-women's unem- ployment, inadequate access to vocational education, and apprentice- ship, etc.: 1. A full employment economy.-Employers, ftnding it more diffi- cult to hire qualified males, would turn to women and qualified minori- ties, and in doing so, would become more knowledgeable about women's work performance. 2. Enforcement of antidiscrimination laws in hiring and promo- tion.-Screening procedures which are genuinely related to job per. formance should be differentiated from those which are prejudicially discriminatory. 3. improved labor market information.-This includes (a) more re- fined methods of forecasting demand and supply, so as to assure a better match between workers and jobs, and (b) improved identifica- tion of new and emerging occupations and more insight into the link between occupations and the transferability of skills. 4. Gender-neutral career orientation.-Counseling in the classroom from earliest school years on helps to improve women's awareness of the world of work. 5. increased on-the-job training to prepare workers for vertical job imobility.-One aspect is cooperative education, which combines work experience and formal education. 6. Paraprofessionalism.-Relaxing rigid work rules enables indi- viduals who lack graduate or postgraduate education to acquire skills to perform subprofessional duties under careful supervision. 7. More and better part-time jobs.-This is particularly important for professional and skilled women workers. Handicapped and older workers, as well, would benefit from shorter and more flexible work week@. 91-686-77-----2 PAGENO="0018" 10 D. Special Problems of Mature Women Specific governmental policies are necessary to meet the employ- ment problems of mature women, whose years of family responsi- bilities may entail a pattern of intermittent job entry, withdrawal, and reentry. Mature women who have been out of the job market for a number of years face a particularly severe problem in finding suitable work. These women include: (a) Mothers who prior to raising children may never have been in the work force at all, or for only a few years; (b) those forced by abrupt circumstances-divorce, separation, desertion, death of spouse-to support themselves. When a woman suddenly be- comes head of a family, the economic burdens may be overwhelming. The long range effects pervade American life. In 19Th, 17 percent of children under 18 lived in a single parent home; 9 out of every 10 of these children lived with their mothers; 44 percent of these female- headed families were poor. The increasing number of divorces makes more and more women economically vulnerable, particularly because almost half of those eligible for child support or alimony never receive it. Of those who do receive financial support, the mean amount meets only about half of a family's subsistence (that is, poverty level) needs. Only about 3 per- cent of all eligible female-headed families receive sufficient child support and alimony alone to put them over the official poverty level for their size family. Both mature and younger women's difficulties in finding gainful employment under such conditions may have their origins in decisions they made long before marriage. From precareer on, women tend to underestimate their future labor force participation and to under- commit themselves to formal and on-the-job training. Black women are considerably more realistic than white women in anticipating their future labor participation, but young women of all races need substan- tially more guidance in preparing for their future lives. When a mature woman seeks reentry, she may confront biases against age, which a mature man also may face. But her problems are com- pounded by the fact that if she has been a homemaker, some of her skills are likely to have depreciated during years out of the job market, and she may have been undertrained to begin with. One way by which Government could assist reentry is by encourag- ing women to use the public employment service more fully, and to direct that such services reach out more effectively to women. Cur- rently, only 29 percent of women, compared with 37 percent of men, use State employment services. Another method of assisting reentry is by means of a retraining subsidy, which could be funded from the unemployment compensation fund; this method has been used in some European countries for many years. One type of assistance contemplated under displaced homemaker programs in 26 States aims at providing education, retraining, coun- seling and other job services for special groups of mature women~ such as the divorced, widowed and separated. A pilot program is now being conducted in Oakland, Calif., under a 2-year State grant of $200,000. The program is geared toward the homemaker who has lost financial support, is too young for financial aid, or too old or unskilled to find PAGENO="0019" 11 work readily. Through workshops, the creation of on-the-job training opportunities, validation of volunteer work and contact with potential employers, the Alliance of I)isplaced I-Io~nernakers is helping many women become financially independent. Other services to homemakers also bear consideration. One possibil- ity is Sawhill's suggestion that husbands with homemaking wives might contribute to State unemployment compensation funds. Another is Grace Ganz Blumberg's social security proposal-to credit one-half of the husband's social security contribution to the homemaker wife's account. Either protection could be a valuable buffer against poverty of the homemaker who becomes "displaced" before or after 65. Some European countries give broad categories of women, such as homemakers, mothers and mature women, preferential treatment in counseling, testing, training on-the-job and in the classroom, grants- in-aid for schooling, job placement and other services to help them secure suitable employment. Such aid, somewhat similar to veterans' preference in the United States, may include subsidies for training, books. relocation, entrance fees, maintenance costs, meals, and some- times housing and family allowances. Sweden's training program for women is particularly noteworthy. It is based on a government decision to cease recruiting foreign work- ers in favor of training and employing married Swedish women seek- ing to enter the labor market. Housewives who want to work report to their local labor office and are enrolled as unemployed; they are then entitled to unemployment benefits, counseling and testing serv- ices, which usually result in referral to training programs, with ac- companying subsidies. E. Minority Women Minority women, facing heavier economic burdens than white women, may need assistance in coping with their added employ- ment, unemployment, and underemployment problems. Minority women are under greater pressure to be wage earners than white women, because minority men who are family heads have an average income that is lower than white men who head families. These men also have had about twice the rate of unemployment that white male family heads have had throughout the post World War II period. Black female-headed households are more numerous than white. Mi- nority women are even more heavily concentrated in a handful of low- paying service occupations than white women. Most critical of all, the recorded unemployment rate of minority women was 79 percent higher than among white women, averaging 9.3 percent a year during the past quarter century. Some improvements have occurred in the employment condition of minority women. The wage gap between nonwhite and white women is almost closed. Measured in 1975 dollars, the earnings of nonwhite w-omen for year-round, full-time work increased nearly sixfold from 1969 to 1975. More advances can be expected in the future. Length of education for minority and white women is now almost identical. But the quality of education of black women (and men) as compared with that afforded white women (and men) is still an important fac- tor in determining their respective life-long attainments. Very much in black women's favor is the realistic recognition of the likelihood that they will be working most of their adult lives. PAGENO="0020" 12 F. Teenagers Teenage females, especially minorities, experiencing the highest unemployment rate of any group in the Nation, need special assist- ance to begin productive careers. In 1976, 19 percent of teenagers of all races and both sexes were offi- cially recorded as out of work, but the rate was 37 percent for minor- ity teenagers and 3~/2 percent higher for minority girls. These un- employment rates for youth are more understated than for adults because so many teenagers are discouraged from even applying for jobs. One of the most significant factors affecting the likelihood of teen- age employment is the employment status or lack of status of one or both parents. In a typically disadvantaged home, a son or daughter does not have the benefit of a helpful job role model if a father is un- employed, underemployed, or absent entirely, or if a mother has a low-paying job or is on welfare. Teenage deprivation, including seri- ous unemployment, is associated with high incidence of crime. One of the most critical events in the life of a young women is the birth of her first child, which may cause her to drop out of school or the labor force, go on welfare, or abandon a career. Those and still earlier choices, as to sexual activity, contraception, and abortion con- front an increasing number of teenagers. Urban Institute research indicates that the availability of subsidized family planning services reduces the incidence of premarital preg- nancies. Yet only about 40 percent of women estimated to be in need of subsidized family planning services actually obtained them in 1974. For these and the remaining 60 percent of women, widened career options at all ages may hinge on the availability of such services. III. SUTPORT SERVICES AND ADJUSTED Co~rnoxs Because women sometimes face double or triple burdens as homemakers, mothers, and workers, they may need support serv- ices to help fulfill their multiple roles in society. The homemaker's work is "work," but society neither values it as such, credits her in various ways for her contributions, nor assists her, particularly when she desires to enter the formal work force. Quality child care at an affordable price is basic if the working mother is to meet her job responsibilities without neglecting her children. Work hours could be adapted to women's and men's needs through part-time jobs and flexible work hours. Occupational health problems, espe- cially those affecting the pregnant woman and the fetus, deserve increased attention. A. Tire Honrerna1~er, the Family, and Employment: Some Interrelation.s hips A meaningful family life for the working couple may require support services to help relieve the special burdens of the wife! mother. Until society abandons the view that "work" only includes paid activities, the homemaker will be denied the status to which she is PAGENO="0021" 13 entitled and assistance which she may need. Affluent working parents can make and pay for their own arrangements to fulfill their personal and child care needs. But for millions of other working parents and especially for single parent families, public programs may represent a crucial difference in the quality of adult and child life. In the homemaker's and the family's behalf, Nona Glazer, Linda Majka, Joan Acker, and Christine Bose recommend a broad series of support measures: Round-the-clock child care centers for children up to the age of 15 become more feasible if older children and retired peo- ple are involved in the caring process; Neighborhood Service Houses, rooted in the tradition of Settlement Houses, could offer multiple serv- ices, such as job reentry counseling, medical day clinics and medical transportation for children, house visitors to facilitate repair services, a distribution point for meals, tools and neighborhood bartering of services, psychological support at times of family stress, and referral to professional help; federally funded holiday camps for employed mothers, modeled after the family holiday camps in Norway, represent another innovative suggestion. Legislation to set up these structures which Glazer et al. recommend would facilitate a change in the structure of national employment standards, they believe. Thus, the labor market would accommodate personal human needs, rather than the reverse situation which exists today. This would entail such measures as fostering mandatory over- time limits, flexitime, routine personal leave, paternity as well as maternity leave, and improved status and fringe benefits for part-time work. Precedent for a national family policy is notable in France. Because it is concerned with social, economic, and other elements of family life, France provides a broad set of services for all families, not just the least fortunate. However, French policy is geared, at least in part, to increasing the birth rate so as to compensate for the ravages of war, a situation with which the United States is not faced. Because this country is starting to recognize that we must pick and choose more carefully how the taxpayers' money is spent, and because such family support programs are costly, one approach might be to set up pilot projects. This method of "sampling" potential new social programs, then adopting or discarding them, is widely and successfully used in Sweden. B. Economic Aspects of Child Care A full employment guarantee for women, if it is to be more than an empty promise, would make available a system of child care which is both economically efficient and effective in meeting the needs of young children and their parents. The need for organized child care is indicated by the fact that in 1974, 42 percent of all children under 18-almost 27 million-had working mothers, with more than 22 percent of these children under the age of 6. Yet there are only 1 million spaces available in licensed day care programs for the almost 6 million pre-school children whose mothers work. A wide variety of day care programs coexist: In the child's own home, in another person's home, by their own mothers at work, by PAGENO="0022" 14 community; religious and/or business-run centers. Costs in day care centers vary widely, depending on the quality of the staff, their num- bers, and education levels, the range of support services, the quantity and quality of food, the nature of the facility and equipment, and whether or not the center is designed to yield a profit. The fact that costs represent an overwhelming barrier to use of day care is confirmed by numerous surveys. Private enterprise is discouraged from increas- ing the supply of formal child care to meet the demand because of the small likelihood of a profitable return from any but upper income users. Whatever the "mix" of a child care systern~ economic planning should take into account the high costs of quality child care and the facts as to parents' willingness or ability to pay. Satisfactory sub- sidized child care will, in Myra H. Strober's judgment, "require partial subsidization of even those families with incomes above the median." Opponents of subsidization dispute the expenditure of public re- sources for care of children in families with median or higher incomes. Why, they ask, should a mother who chooses to raise a child entirely by herself and to forego any job income, neither receive nor expect a subsidy, while a woman who transfers part of the child-raising burden to society in order to earn her own income, be subsidized? Even as regards the children of lower income families, critics ask: should taxpayers spend, for example, $5,000 a year to give two children subsidized day care so that the mother can earn perhaps $7,000 to $10,000 a year? The arithmetic of each case varies, but day care supporters counter that the taxpayer's investment is repaid clirectl . if only in part~ by the higher taxpaying ability of the working mother. More important, the intangible values of society are strengthened by providing free- dom of choice-to work or not to work-to women who would other- wise lose such choice, and by assuring quality care for the coming generation. Noting that the desire for children care is worldwide, Alice H. Cook compares European and other nations' practices. One of the issues is whether publicly supported child care should be administered by edu- cational, labor or social service authorities-each of which tends to have a different approach to the child. France provides free child care services for a greater number of 2 to 6 years olds (proportionately) than any other non-Communist coun- try. It. in effect, starts its free education system at the age of two, instead of five, as the United States does. All French day care homes, no matter how small, are registered, inspected and licensecL and must adhere to established standards. All children who are placed in care- even with a close relative-are registered. An unusual service-a short- term nursery called Halte Garderie (Child Parking)-is available even to nonworking mothers, so that they can be free for shopping or leisure pursuits. France's system emphasizes care at the young forma- tive ages, when assistance is most needed. Sweden has the most all-inclusive and integrated program of pre- school and school-age childcare of an country in the non-Communist world; that is, it has the broadest range of services. Before and after PAGENO="0023" 15 school care includes supervision of homework and play activities, hobby programs, free activities, breakfast, and midafternoon snacks when necessary. While Sweden relies on full-time formal day care centers, it also utilizes family day care to help parents who work irregular hours or need overnight care for children. Sweden's comprehensive care of sick children ranges from sickrooms at centers, to child visitor services to homes, and includes transportation of ill children. Sweden's sys- tem emphasizes total child care around the clock and throughout the year for all ages. The Swedish program was planned by representatives of govern- ment, private and public social welfare, and employers' and employees' organizations. A plus in the Swedish system is that family day care mothers, who are under Government supervision, have 90-day training programs available to them, as well as such amenities as insurance coverage, vacations, and established wage rates. This gives recognition to the paraprofession of "family daycare mothering" and establishes it as a desirable category in the labor force. U. Part-Time TVov/e Wives, particularly mothers, who choose to work should have the option of career-oriented part-time jobs. A similar option for men would provide greater flexibility in the sharing of parental and household responsibilities, and add to the quality of life. Despite widespread interest, there is a lack of career-oriented part-time work. Practically all part-time jobs today are the lowest pay- ing ones; virtually anyone ta.king part-time work today suffers sub- stantial career and economic penalties, ranging from lack of oppor- tunity for promotions to loss of fringe benefits. Yet the disadvantages of part-time work are less than those of dropping out all together, which results in depletion of skills, lack of confidence and an image in employers' eyes as lacking attachment to the work force. Industry should be encouraged to rethink its own concepts of the workday and work continuity. While experiments in the 4-day week are increasing, most businesses have resisted part-time employment for a variety of philosophical and administrative reasons. Contrary to the general perception, part-time work need not increase the cost of bene- fits, because required statutory benefits can be offset by adjustment of optional benefits. Flex-time, which faces less resistance than part-time work, has been found to be mutually rewarding for both employer and employee, based on observations of a number of companies where it has been used. Institutionalizing part-time work options-for both men and wom- en-offers these benefits to society: 1. Children benefit. Their emotional and other needs are met by the availability of not just one, but both parents, at different times. 2. Parents benefit. The desire of both father and mother to share parental responsibilities is fulfilled. 3. Women benefit. The shorter workday makes it easier for a woman to work while she retains the psychological benefits of being a "good mother." 4. Business and industry benefit. The "magnetism" of part-time work can attract quality employees into the work force. Companies PAGENO="0024" 16 may experience greater productivity and lower unit costs, due to re- duced `absenteeism, turnover, recruitment activity and overtime pay. Higher productivity may also occur because `an employee can maintain a faster work pace for 4 to 6 hours a day than she/he can for 8 hours. 5. Labor and society benefit. The sharing of work opportunities would be facilitated in a society where the munber of jobs available is not keeping pace with the growth in the number of potential workers. In addition, greater equality of opportunity is assured between men and women. Increased time away from work adds to the quality of life. 7. Taxpayers benefit. The burden of taxpayer-subsidized child-care centers is reduced. Carol S. Greenwald urges structural changes in the occupational system, such as have already begun in Sweden. There, a parents' insur- ance system, replacing a maternity allowance system, makes it possible for both parents to alternate working part time for a given period after the birth of a child, without any economic or occupational penalty. Greenwald suggests that parental leave (in place of mater- nity leave) and part-time work options be required by the Department of Labor as part of the affirmative action program for Federal con- tractors. The absence of such provisions, she believes, is discrimina- tory in effect and is not required as a matter of business necessity, but is based on mere custom and convenience. Critics view the proposed imposition on employers of mandatory part-time work as unjustified intervention in private enterprise. In their view, consequences may include arbitrary dislocation of efficient work schedules, elevation of personnel and other business costs, and the inflation of prices to the consumer. D. illaternaZ and Other HeaUh Needs The topic of support services would not be complete without a brief consideration of women's health as affected by employment, a subject which is not covered by an individua~t paper within the compendium. The influx of women into the job force and specifically into a broadened range of occupations has outpaced society's alertness as to the health implications to the woman worker, especially the pregnant woman and her unborn child. Few issues represent more of a double-edged sword than that of proposed standards for women under the Occupational Health and Safety Act. On the one hand, rigid standards may result in automatic screening out of women applicants in a way which may be regarded as discriminatory; on the other hand, pregnant women (including those who are not aware that they are pregnant) may risk substantial injury to themselves and to their unborn children in hazardous work environments. The pregnancy-related dile~nma faces women even in such traditional occupations as operating room attend- ant, dental assistant, radiology technician, and flight attendant, where scientific evidence has `begun to question the safety of what had for- merly been considered relatively healthy work environments. The issue is drawn more sharply as women enter into the chemical, mining, and other heavy industries, where dangerous substances have been sus- pected for some time and are now becoming increasingly recognized. There is wide agreement that, at the very minimum, women should have the benefit of timely information before entering into such occu- PAGENO="0025" 17 pations,~ or, if they are already so employed, as soon as scientific infor- mation on hazards is validated. It is obvious that men also are entitled to information concerning occupational health hazards. Health poses a problem to the working woman in othere woman in other ways, as well. Information remains sparse on the impact of workman's compensation on women; the problem of coverage of preg- nancy under disability income and sick pay protection awaits congres- sional resolution. The female-headed family and two-worker parents are inadequately served by a health system which does not have flex- ible hours for child clinics. IV. EDUCATION AND WORK Improvement in the Nation's system of education and training of women could play an important part in achieving the goal of full employment. Career education is developing as a useful tool to aid women's and men's decisions at each stage of life. Voca- tional education could be a much more significant aid to women if they could share equally with men in its benefits. Similarly, the apprenticeship system, still largely closed to women, could add to the diversification of their work opportunities and the increase of their earnings. Subsidized training and retraining would enable women to strengthen their human capital. A. Career Education Career education can broaden and sharpen individuals' knowl- edge about both their own abilities and the labor market's oppor- tunities, and can help them arrive at the best decisions about their work lives. Women, in particular, benefit from career education, a concept which helps relate current learning to future careers. National tests indicate that 17-year-old girls-the age when career decisions are in the process of being made-have a less realistic understanding about careers and working than do boys of the same age. Another study of adults indicates that sex stereotyping within our society makes it in- creasingly important that career education be incorporated into our educational system in order to counteract these negative patterns. Substantial literature by both Government and individual employ- ment specialists document the fact that career education can improve individuals' self-assessment and development as workers, their occupa- tional awareness and preparedness for work, and their ability to put it all together through skilled planning and decisionmaking. Lack of career-oriented education and training is one of the strong root causes of women's inability to establish themselves in upwardly mobile careers. Access to genderless-oriented education and training on an equal basis with men is a start towards providing full employ- ment for women. Without it, all other support programs will not achieve their potential. Recommendations to facilitate the growth of career education in- clude the following: 1. Career education should become mandatory in all schools and encouraged in other community programs. PAGENO="0026" 18 2. Community career education action councils should be established. 3. Career education concepts should be included as a standard part of the curriculum for educators. 4. Schools should become more fiexible-4wit.h open entry and open exit-to serve the job needs of women of all ages. 5. Tax, and other reforms should be used to encourage the retrain- ing and upgrading of women's working skills. B. T7ocationa~ Education Vocational education is booming, but present opportunities for girls and women are still limited to clusters of low-paying, tradi- tionally "feminine" occupations, and little attempt is being made to open up nontraditional areas. With almost 61/2 million women and girls enrolled in public voca- tional classes in 1972, about 4 out of 5 were being trained in home economics and office practices. Few women are being trained for the 20.1 million jobs that estimates indicate will exist by 1980 in the better paying trades, industrial and technical jobs, and for which high schools offer entry level courses. These latter j~bs, unfortunately, are viewed primarily as male occupations. A 1974 report showed that 98.5 percent of all students in Wisconsin high school industrial classes were boys. In one city, the average ex- pected wage for trades learned by girls was 47 percent lower than for trades learned by boys. At the postsecondary level, admission of women `is hindered by inconvenient school hours and location, lack of child care facilities, and limited distribution of publicity about the programs. Some of the following steps would be helpful in upgrading voca- tional education for women: Improvement in counseling based on more research on how females make career decisions; an introductory course on the `changing career patterns of women, labor market projections and wage differentials of occupations; better literature and audio- visual materials-prescreened against traditional stereotypes; updat- ing of counselors' knowledge and skills by summer institutes and in- service training programs; tours for young girls of vocational class- rooms and industries; visits to schools by women workers in a broad range of occupations: simulated job experience kits for fields iii which expansion is projected. C. Apprenticeship Apprenticeship, one of the most important doors to skilled and well-paid jobs, remains all but closed to women today because of deen-rooted custom and outright discrimination. The reasons for the exclusion of women are multiple: Most ap- prenticeships are in male-dominated occupations which have his- torically tended to perpetuate barriers on the ground that the jobs are "unsuitable" for women; the stereotypes deter women from ap- plying; jobs traditionally held by women are perceived to require less training and therefore are excluded from the apprenticeable trades. IVomen account for only slightly over 1 percent of all registered apprentices. Over 415 differeni trades and crafts are apprenticeable, PAGENO="0027" 19 according to Federal Government standards; the 21 construction trades account for approximately 64 percent. Thirty-six one- hundredths of 1 percent (0.36) of apprentices in the highly paid build- ing trades were women in 1975. Among these key trades, only carpen- ters and electricians had more than 100 women apprentices at that time. Why is apprenticeship important? It is a bargain for those high school graduates who cannot afford continued classroom education. They can earn a wage while simultaneously acquiring a skill leading to still higher income. Long waiting lists of hopefuls attest to the desirability of being accepted as an apprentice. A forward step taken by the Manpower Administration is the ap- prenticeship outreach program, which emphasizes recruiting, counsel- ing, and tutoring women for apprenticeships and which now covers 27 cities. Despite their potential promise, these programs achieved only "modest results"-according to a Civil Rights Commission study in 1974. An improvement in the `appreirticeship system would be to admit women exceeding the maximum age, as part of affirmative action. Overview of the program could be strengthened by correcting under- representation of women within the Department of Labor's Bureau of Apprenticeship and Training, which has 240 males and only 14 females. It should be borne in mind that recessions have an adverse effect on the numbers of apprenticeships, as it does on so many other programs which offer increased career opportunities. D. Higher Education The component of American society which might best show evidence of the results of women's increased aspirations is the segrner~t that has documented and fostered those aspirations, namely, American higher education itself. Women's status as students and members of faculties in colleges and universities is not treated as a separate paper in the compendium, but the relative unevenness of women's progressin higher education is noteworthy of comment. The women's proportion among students in undergraduate, graduate, and postgraduate ins~i~tutes has continued to rise. By 1974 the proportion of women aged 18 to 19 going to college equalled the proportion of young men. In 1975, more women than men took the scholastic aptitude tests, the first time in the 49 years that the SAT's have been in existence. But, most impor- tant, the percentage-24 percent-of women among all faculty on academic year contracts remained the same in 1974 and 1975, while the percentage of women ranked professor, associate professor and in- structor actually decreased. The average salaries of these professionals remained less than that of men. Title IX, approved in June 1972, prohibits discrimination on the basis of sex in educational programs which receive Federal funds, including recruitment and admission, financial assi~tance, housing, and hur~ng of professional faculty. Title IX, plus other legislation such as the Medical Education A~t, have been instrumental in opening the doors to medical and law schools and other graduate facilities. Upper level positions for women in man- agement, government and the professions are vital because they serve PAGENO="0028" 20 as role models for children and young adults to follow, they help change deep-seated negative attitudes in our society, and they place women in top echelon positions where they can help overcome other barriers that still remain. On the other side of the coin, affirmative action programs required by title IX have been characterized by college administrators as a "mixed blessing" which has lowered standards, led to "reverse dis- crimination" against white males, and increased university paper- work and other costs. - V. KEY FACTORS: TAX TREATMENT AND MEDIA IMAGES Reforms should be considered in both the tax and social security systems in the interest of justice for working as well as nonwork? ing women. Another adverse and pervasive factor is media- disseminated stereotypes which may handicap girls and women at every stage of their intellectual and economic development. A. Impact of the Tax System and Social Security on Labor Force Participation Changes are required in the American tax and social security systems whose, direct or indirect inequities may discourage women from working, or penalize them if they choose to work. Three major problems in the tax treatment of the two-earner family are: (a) The marriage penalty, which substantially increases the tax bill of the two-earner family. (b) The fiscal inequity of failing to dif- ferentiate between the traditional worker-housewife couple and the emergent two-earner couple, whose greater earnings are offset with increased but often nondeductible job-related expenses. (c) The work disincentive to potential second family earners, since the second family earner's first taxable dollar is effectively taxed at the first earner's `highest tax rate. Suggestions offered to overcome these difficulties include: (a) A system of individual tax treatment of earned income, similar to Sweden's, or an option to married taxpayers to choose individual treatment of earned income, similar to that of England, Norway, and other countries. (b) An allowance to second earners to accommodate the working couple's higher cost of earning income. In the social security system, Blumberg identifies the issues and offers several remedies: 1. Worker-housewife cou.ples frequently receive substantially more benefits than two-earner couples, even though earnings and social security payments are equal. To achieve parity in determining bene- fits, Blumberg suggests that working couples should be permitted to combine their earnings up to the maximum taxable wage base (rather than `as at present, computing benefits from the separate earnings of two bases). 2. The married working woman realizes little or no benefits from her social `security payments because she can only collect from one account (usually her husband's). It has been argued that the married woman does receive benefits because her payments cover more than PAGENO="0029" 21 her retirement benefits-her own disability, and survivor's benefits. If this is the rationale, then the married woman's contributions should be adjusted downward to reflect the actual coverage she is purchasing. 3. There are inequities in the calculation of "replacement income" for women. Retirement benefits are computed by averaging earnings for all years except the lowest five; employed wives and working mothers may have been home for child rearing and homemaking for a cumulatively longer period than 5 years. Some countries have treated women's absence from the labor market because of pregnancy and child rearing as "covered employment," and credited the married woman's account with some. ascribed earnings. 4. In the event of divorce, many nonemployed wives and mothers lose their dependent status and are deprived of their social security eligibility; thus, older housewives may be left entirely without re- tirement income; younger housewives may not have a basis for an ade- quate average earning record. A comprehensive solution offered by Blumberg is equal apportion- ment between husband and wife of all spouse's contributions based on wages. In her opinion, this would "more profoundly reflect the view that marriage is an economic partnership: * * * that each spouse has an interest in all income generated during a marriage, and that the housewife does make a valuable economic contribution to her family". B. Effects of Mass Media Stereotypes on Women's Employment Efforts should be made to reduce sex bias in the content of mass media if a constructive self-realization of women is to be encouraged. While women's role in society and in the labor market has experi- enced vast changes in the past quarter century, the mass media's un- realistic portrayal of that role is an impediment to women's equality. One television study showed that commercials mentioned 43 different occupations for men,, only 18 for women. When TV shows reveal some- one's occupation, the worker is most likely to be male. Women's maga- zines have traditionally focused on women as homemakers, rather than as workers, but have recently become more responsive to change. In the Nation's newspapers, news of food, fashion, weddings, and society-not jobs-has tended to dominate the women's pages. A sub- stantial body of research suggests particularly profound effects of media stereotyping in restricting the horizons of young women; these effects may well deter girls from undertaking career-oriented educa- tion or training programs. The mass media may also exert a conserva- tive force among adults, which prevents affluent and other women from seeking employment and discourages women who must work from seeking better jobs or higher goals. Gaye Tuchman recommends a complete analysis of the effect of mass media upon women and minorities. She also suggests Federal Trade Commission restrictions on sex-typed advertising during chil- dren's viewing hours; banning sex-role stereotypes under the National Association of Broadcasters Code; Federal Communications Com- mission denial of renewal of station licenses if program stereotyping is found; and priority given to affirmative action programs in the mass media. PAGENO="0030" 22 CONCLUSION Full employment is a moving target; it takes a growing number of jobs to provide for a growing labor force, and women are currently the prime movers of the target (Isabel V. Sawhill). The targets are moving as well for government and for all other institutions-business, labor, education, and social sciences-as they respond to women's rising economic aspirations. To the authors of thd compendium, the achievement of women's equality in a full employ- ment economy is the logical and necessary culmination of the phe- nomenon of their massive entry into the labor force and of the rights to which they are entitled under law. The authors note that even in the absence of a full employment goal, the success of macroeconomic growth policies is affected to a greater degree than ever before by the Nation's ability to estimate, to plan for and to accommodate the in- tentions of women workers and potential workers. Noninflationary, cost-effective microeconornic policies could help open up career oppor- tunities for groups with special needs, such as mothers with infants and small children, displaced homemakers and mature women,, and teen- agers-especially minorities. A fundamental reality of this era is that women's economic progress has already attained an inner momentum which will intensify their quest for job satisfaction and equality. Traditional acceptance by women, as well as by men, of substantial unemployment and under- employment is likely to give way to a consensus for national policies which will make better use of all human resources. Whether or not these policies become embodied in a full employment goal. as such, increased effort may be anticipated to end sex-based discrimination and de facto job segregation, to improve women's education and train- ing so as to foster self-fulfillment in jobs, and to expand support serv- ices, especially for the homemaker and working mother. To achieve these and other objectives, the specific recommendations within this compendium carry direct and indirect price tags, as yet largely unknown. But the failure to assure women's optimal economic role also entails costs of both a tangible and intangible nature to women, men, and to all society. PAGENO="0031" Part I. OVERVIEW (23) PAGENO="0032" PAGENO="0033" WOMEN'S STAKE IN FULL EMPLOYMENT: THEIR DISADVANTAGED ROLE IN THE ECONOMY-CHAL- LENGES TO ACTION Br MARY DUBLIN kEYSERLING* CONTENTS Page I. Where women are in the labor force 26 A. Earnings and status __ 27 B. Work discontinuity and work life expectancy 29 II. The impact of unemployment on women 30 III. Women's increasing stake in full employment~__ 31 IV. The high vulnerability of minority women - 32 V. Unemployment and teenagers 34 VI. Some challenges to action 35 Major sources of statistical data used 38 Women in the United States have an immense stake in the achieve- ment of full employment.' In a shrinking economy women suffe.r high rates of unemployment considerably in excess of those experienced by men. Inflation rises and inflicts an especially hard blow on women. Poverty increases, family incomes decline, and business earnings fall. These developments and the resulting reduction in public revenues lessen our Nation's capacity to meet the needs of its people. Women, whether wage and salary earners or full-time homemakers, are affected by the consequences to a disproportionate extent. The highly disadvantaged position of women in the American econ- omy today exists despite the fact that their participation in the labor force has advanced rapidly during the last two and one-half decades. In 1940 they represented 29 percent of all workers. By 1976 their pro- portion had increased to 41 percent. While they have comprised more than three-fifths of the growth in the civilian labor force during this period, they have moved increasingly into the lesser skilled, lower paid jobs. Despite the fact that national legislation directed toward the elimination of discrimination in employment on the basis of sex, among other grounds, has been on the statute books for moie than 10 years, the relative employment status of women has shown little improve- ment in some respects and has. actually deteriorated in some more significant ways. *Consulting economist in private practice in Washington, D.C. She was the Director of the Women's Bureau, U.S. Department of Labor, 1964-1969. 1 Full employment In this paper Is based on a level of employment consistent with the reduction of unemployment to an overall rate of about 3 percent. This is treated as the "frictional" level of unemployment, that Is, those unemployed are primarily wage and salary earners moving from one job to another. This paper assumes that a reasonable and feasible target for the reduction of unemployment is to lower the overall rate of unPin- ployment from 7.7 percent In 1976 to 4 percent by mid-1981 (about 3 percent for adults aged 20 and over) and to 3 percent within a year or two thereafter. (25) 91-6S6----77-----3 PAGENO="0034" 26 Experience during the post-World War II years clearly indicates that existing employment inequities strongly resist redress wli.en eco- nomic gTowth rates are slow or the economy declines. When the. econ- only moves into high gear and there are ample mlml)erS of j ohs available for those seeking them. gains for women-and for all A.mer- jeans-are very great indeed. This is not to say that strong aiid specific efforts to eliminate employment discrimination are not needed in periods of economic expansion; they clearly are. But. such efforts have a better chance of achieving their objectives when job opportunities are on the increase. A review of where women are in the labor force and of recent trends during times of economic advance and decline sheds a revealing light on why full employment is of signal importance to them. I. WHERE WOMEN ARE IX THE LABOR FORCE As of December 1976, 39 million women, aged 16 and over~ were in the labor force-a number which had more than doubled since 1950 and nearly tripled since 1940. Nearly half of all women~ 16 and over, were employed or actively seeking work. Of those between the. ages 18 and 64, the proportion was 56 percent. Between 1950 and 1976, the total labor force grew by about 31 million. Women constituted more than three-fifths of this increase. MTith five recessionary interruptions, the economy expanded, although not nearly enough, over this period as a whole. The number of jobs was growing and women entered the job market in rapidly increas- ing numbers. Of major significance has been the very substantial rise in the proportion of women aged 25-64, particularly those with children, who sought employment during the quarter century. Among those aged 25-34, there was a 68-percent increase in their labor force participation rates between 1950 and 1976. The rate of increase for those aged 35-64 was also very rapid, as is shown in table I. TABLE 1.-LABOR FORCE PARTICIPATION RATES OF WOMEN, BY AGE GROUPS, 1940, 1950, 1960, 1970, 1976, AND PERCENT CHANGE 1940-76~AND1950-76 Percent change Age (years) 1940 1 1950 1960 1970 1976 1940-76 1950-76 Total, 16 yrs and over 28. 9 33. 9 37. 8 43. 4 47. 3 +63. 7 ±39. 5 16 and 17 13. 8 30. 1 29. 1 34.9 40.7 ±194. 9 +35. 2 18 and 19 42. 7 51. 3 51. 1 53.7 59. 0 438. 2 4 15. 0 20 to 24 48. 0 46. 1 46. 2 57. 8 65. 0 +35. 4 +41. 0 25 to 34 35. 5 34. 0 36. 0 45.0 57. 1 +60. 9 +67. 9 35 to 44 29. 4 39. 1 43. 5 51. 1 57. 8 +96. 6 +47. 8 45 to 54 24.5 38.0 49.8 54.4 55.0 +124.5 +44.7 55 to 64 18. 0 27. 0 37. 2 43. 0 41. 1 +128. 3 ±52. 2 65 yrs and over 6. 9 9. 7 10. 8 9.7 8. 3 ±20. 3 -14. 4 1 Data for 1940 are for March of that year; for other years, annual. Source: U.S. Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics, Washington, D.C. WThen 1940 is used as the base year for conwarison with 1976, the labor force participation rates for women aged 35-64 had more than doubled. Before World War II, the peak rate of labor force participation was for women aged 20-24, 48 percent of whom were workers. By the PAGENO="0035" 27 age of 25, a large proportion of women had already married and the responsibilities of child rearing removed many from the job world. The labor force participation rate of those aged 25-34 was 26 percent lower than among those aged 20-24. It declined another 17 percent among those aged 35-44, and still another 17 percent for those aged 45-54. This continuous decline reflected the greater difficulties of home management than in more recent years, the absence of child day-care facilities, the insufficiency of jobs, and the strong prejudice against hiring middle-aged women, among other factors. After the. war, labor force participation rates for women aged 25-34 continued to be lower than for those aged 20-24, although to a. dimin- ishing degree from 1950 onward. By 1976, women aged 25-34 were 12 percent less likely to be in the labor force than those aged 20-24. Throughout the post-World War II period, the labor force participa- tion rates of women over age 35 have continued to increase. During the past two and one-half decades, the labor force participa- tion of married women with husbands present grew more rapidly than that of other married or single women; it increased nearly 90 percent between 1950 and 1976. The rates for married women with husbands present and with children under the age of 18 increased nearly two- and-a-half-fold during this period; for those with children under the age of six, the rates more than tripled (see table II). TABLE 11.-LABOR FORCE PARTICIPATION RATES OF WOMEN, BY MARITAL STATUS, IN MARCH 1950, 1975, AND 1976 AND PERCENT CHANGE, 1950-76 Percent Marital status 1950 1975 1976 change, 1950-76 Married women, husband present With children under 18 yr With children under 6 yr With no children under 18 yr Other ever-married women With children under 18 yr With children under 6 yr With no children under 18 yr Single women 23.8 18. 4 11. 9 30. 3 37. 8 54. 9 41. 4 33. 7 50. 5 44.4 44. 9 36. 6 43. 9 40. 7 62. 4 55. 0 33. 2 56. 7 45.0 46. 1 37. 4 43. 8 40.9 63. 8 56. 2 32. 8 58.9 ±89.1 ±150. 5 ±214. 3 +44. 6 ±8. 2 +16. 2 ±35. 7 -2. 7 +16. 6 Source: U.S. Department of Commerce, Bureau of the Census, "Current Population Reports," series P-50, No. 29; and U.S. Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics, "Special Labor Force Reports," Non. 13, 130, and 183 and BLS unpublished data for 1976. A. Earnings and Status Most women work for the same reason as most men; they need the money. As of March 1976, 43 percent of all women in the labor force were single, widowed, separated or divorce.d, and worked to support themselves and their dependents. More than an additional quarter of all women in the labor force were married women whose husbands had earned less than $10,500 in the previous year, or less than what was regarded as needed to meet the minimum requirements of a family of four. Thus, for 7 out of 10 working women, employment is a com- pelling economic necessity. A large majority of the remaining women also work because they desire to improve their families' economic opportunities. While a ma~ority of women of working age are now job holders, they are heavily concentrated in the lower-paid, lesser-skilled posi- PAGENO="0036" 28 tions which women have traditionally held. In 1975? somewhat more than a third of women job holders were in clerical and. kindred occu- pations, and nearly a fifth were in the service trades~ excluding pri- vate household employment, with median annual earnings in 1974 for year-round, full-time work of $7,562 and $5,414 respectively. About an additional fifth were sales, craft and kindred workers, and opera- tives, with median earnings in these three fields combined for year- round, full-time work in 1974 of $6,100. About 16 percent of working women were in Professional and technical occupations, with nearly half of them concentrated in three fields traditionally held by women, also relatively low paid: elementary and prescl~ool teachers, registered nurses, and health technologists and technicans. Because of women's concentration at the lower rungs of the occu- pational ladder, their median earnings for year-round, full-time work in 1975 were only $7,504, or only 59 percent of the $12,758 median earnings of men for year-round full-time work. Of all women em- ployed year-round and full-time, 22 percent earned less than $5,000. This compares with fewer than 7 percent of men. At the upper end of the earnings scale, only 4.5 percent of women earned between $15,000 and $25,000; the percentage of men in this income bracket was six times greater. Fewer than one-half of 1 percent of all these women earned $25,000 or more; the percentage of men in this bracket was 20 times higher. Women's occupational status is very different from that of men. While in 1975 they comprised 40 percent of the labor force, they were 99 percent of all secretaries; 98 percent of all household workers and nurses; 96 percent of dressmakers, sewers and stitchers; 85 percent of all elementary schoolteachers; 77 percent of all those in clerical occu- pations; and 58 percent of all nonhousehoid related service employees. About three-quarters of all women workers were in these occupations, generally characterized by relatively low average earnings. Wonien remain poorly represented at the more privileged end of the occupational ladder. In 1974, they were 6 percent of all lawyers and judges, 10 percent of physicians, 14 percent of all chemists, 20 percent of computer specialists, and 31 percent of all college and uni- versity teachers, to mention a few examples. Even within the professions underrepresenteci by women, they were concentrated at the lower end of the scale, and some trends have act- ually been regressive. For instance, in colleges and universities in 1974, women were 9 percent of all full professors-down from 10 per- cent in 1959-60; they were 15 percent of associate professors-down from 17.5 percent in 1959-60; they were 24 percent of assistant pro- fessors and 45 percent of all instructors. These last two ratios were higher than in the base year, but these gains did not co~npensate for the declines at the higher levels, so that, overall, women lost. salary ground relative to men. At each of the teaching levels, the average compensation of women was lower than that of men-the difference of all ranks combined averaging 18 percent lower for women. Another illustration of disparities affecting women is employment in the Federal civil service. The Federal Government might well be 2 The 1975, rather than 1976, occupational data are used in this connection because, at the time of writing, data with respect to median earnings in 1976, by occupation, for year-round, full-time work, were not yet available. PAGENO="0037" 29 expected to be the pace setter with respect to affirmative action em- ployment policy, being charged by an Executive order to prohibit discrimination on the basis of sex. But an analysis of Federal civil service reports indicates that the mandate is far from fulfilled. Women in 1975 were only 35 percent of total white collar Federal employees-about the same proportion as in 1968, and considerably lower than their proportion in the total labor force. Their number in the civil service failed to keep pace with their growing role in the general economy; such progress as they have made at the top, in recent years, has been very slight. In 1975, women were only 2.7 per- cent of all those in the three highest grades-GS 16, 17, and 18-up from 1.5 percent in 1968. They were only 4.3 percent in the next two highest grades-QS 14 and 15-up from 3.4 percent in 1968. Not only is the overall occupational position of women inferior in relation to that of men; women's relative position in the labor force has been deteriorating in recent years. The comparative median earn- ings of men and women in year-round, full-time employment were used above as a meaningful index of relative economic status. Corn- parison of these figures over a period of time shows relative retrogres- sion. Median earnings of women in year-round full-time work were 59 percent those of men in 1975, While this ratio averaged the same in the 1960's. it was considerably lower than the 63 percent average for 1955- 59 and the 64 percent registered in 1955. The wage gap was $3,081 in 1955 (measured in 1975 dollars). It was $5,254 in 1975, or 71 percent larger. B. Work Discontinuity and Work Life Expectancy For many years it was argued that the median earnings differential on the basis of sex could be attributed in large measure to the dis- continuity in women's employment. This was clearly a major causal factor in earlier periods when a large percentage of working women left the labor force after marriage to bear and rear children. How- ever, while the discontinuity of women's employment has been dimin- ishing very rapidly in recent years, the differences in relative earn- mgs of men and women have increased. Recent studies show that the worklife expectancy of women has continued to lengthen significantly, while it has edged downward for men. As is shown in table IV, women's worklife expectancy at birth rose from 6.3 years in 1900 to 12.1 years in 1940, or nearly doubled; by 1970 it had almost doubled again to 22.9 years. TABLE V-LIFE AND WORK EXPECTANCY AT BIRTH, SELECTED YEARS, 1940-70 Expectancy 1900' 19402 19502 19602 1970 MEN Life expectancy 48.2 61.2 65.5 66.8 67. 1 Work expectancy 32. 1 38. 1 41.5 41.1 40. 1 Nonwork expectancy 16. 1 23. 1 24. 0 25.7 27. 0 WOMEN Life expectancy 50.7 65.7 71.0 73.1 74.8 Work expectancy 6. 3 12. 1 15. 1 20. 1 22.9 Nonwork expectancy 44.4 53.6 55.9 53.0 51.9 Women's worklife expectancy as a percent of men'S. 19. 6 31. 6 36. 3 48. 6 57. 1 Data for 1900 are for white persons in death registration States. 2 Figures adjusted to remove 14- and 15-yr-olds from the labor force to be consistent with 1970 (1900 is not comparable). Source: Howard N. Fullerton, Jr. and James J. Byrne: `Length of Working Life for Men and Women, 1970," Monthly Labor Review, February 1976, p. 32. (U.S. Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics, Washington, D.C.). PAGENO="0038" 30 By 1970, the work expectancy of men at age 20 was 41.5 years; for women who were divorced, widowed, or separated it was somewhat higher-42.3 years; for single women it was nearly the same-41.'2 years. At age 35, the large majority of women in the labor force in 1970 had a work expectancy t.hat varied relatively little from that of men, as is shown in table V. TABLE V.-WORIILIFE EXPECTANCY OF MEN AND WOMEN IN THE LABOR FORCE AT SELECTED AGES AND BY MARITAL AND CHILD STATUS FOR WOMEN, 1970 [In years] Eve r-married women Women in labor force after birth Divorced Age Men Single women No children ever born of last child widowed, and separated 20 25 30 35 41. 5 36.9 32. 3 27. 6 41. 2 36.4 32. 6 28. 5 34. 1 29.2 24. 3 20. 8 (2) (2) (2) 26. 8 42. 3 37.4 32. 6 27. 8 40 45 23.2 18.9 24.0 19.4 17.6 13.4 21.2 16.3 23.0 18.3 50 55 60 14. 8 10. 9 7. 4 15.0 10. 9 7. 1 12.0 10. 6 8. 9 11. 9 8. 2 5. 0 13. 6 9. 0 6. 7 65 5. 7 4. 4 6. 6 4. 5 5. 3 1 Includes mothers. Women in these marital statuses were also included in the tabulation for the 2 previous columns1 2 Not applicable. Source: Same as for table IV, With employment discontinuity sharply on the decline for women and with worklife expectancy markedly on the increase, it is clear that a large number of other factors contribute to the relatively dis- advantaged position of women in the labor force. Many women are willing to settle for lesser-skilled, lower-paid jobs because their train- iug, education, and attitudinal conditioning have not prepared them realistically to anticipate their employment commitments. Stereotyped vocational guidance and training, which have not adjusted to the new realities of women's worklives, tend to move women into jobs they have held traditionally. There is continuing discrimination against women in hiring ancT promotion. In periods of declining employment, women and minorities are generally the last hired and first fired, largely be- cause seniority systems prevail over the dictates of affirmative action employment policies. This separation from jobs affects earnings and promotion potentials. II. THE IMPACT OF UNEMPLOYMENT ON WOMEN Unemployment affects women to a far greater degree than men. It has averaged 25 percent higher for them during the years 1947-75. In 1975, officially recorded unemployment among women reached a post-World War II peak of 9.3 percent and averaged 8.6 percent dur- ing 1976. The comparable rates for men were 7.9 and 7 percent, respec- tivelv. These sex differentials are considerably larger than the official figures indicate; when job hunting becomes harder, women are more PAGENO="0039" 31 likely than men to abandon the search because there are fewer jobs available to them. When they do, they are no longer counted among the unemployed. During the post-World War II period, the impact of unemploy- ment on women, relative to that on men, has been intensifying. From 1947 through 1959, unemployment averaged 11 percent higher for women than men, and in the subsequent years, 1960 through 1976, averaged 31 percent higher. In addition to its higher incidence, unemployment among women has become a more serious problem for a growing number of families who are increasingly dependent on women's earnings. The proportion of families headed by women rose 43 percent from 1950 to 1976-from 9.3 to 13.3 percent. Furthermore, women's earnings had become far more important to husband-wife families as the labor force participa- tion of wives had increased from 24 to 45 percent-a rise of 89 percent. III. WOMEN'S INCREASING STAKE IN FtTLL EMPLOYMENT Women workers accounted for a considerably larger proportion of the unemployed during the most recent recession than in earlier eco- nomic downturns; the increase in their vulnerability is dispropor- tionate to their expanding role in the labor force. In the two economic downturns of the 1950's, as unemployment peaked in 1954 and 1958, women's unemployment represented 34 and 33 percent of total unem- p1oymei~t, respectively. In 1961, another year of high unemployment, women represented 36 percent o-f the total, somewhat higher than their percentage of the total labor force, which was then 34 percent. In 1976, women comprised 46 percent of all those unemployed, at a time when they were 41 percent of the total labor force. As earlier stated, because of prejudice and seniority system priorities, women find themselves among the last hired and among the first fired when the economy slackens. Equal employment obligations go by the wayside. Another factor of major concern is the rising incidence of poverty ~ among women. During the past 7 years of low economic growth, two recessions and acute unemployment, poverty has been on the in- crease, with women suffering disproportionately. The years 1961-68 were characterized by continuous economic ex- pansion. Real GNP advanced at the average annual rate of 4.6 percent a year. The total number of people suffering the hardships of poverty declined from 39.9 million in 1960 to 25.4 million in 1968, or by 36 percei~t. From 1969 to 1975, with economic growth interrupted by two reces- sions, real GNP increased at the average annual rate of only 1.7 per- cent. The number of those in poverty rose from 24.1 million in 1969 to 25.9 million in 1975, or by 7.5 percent. The number of persons in families in poverty headed by women declined from 7.2 million in 1960 to 7 million in 1968; the number increased to 8.9 million in 1975, which is 27 percent higher than in 1968. In 1975, more than half of related children under the age of 18 and in poverty were in female- headed families. The official TT.S. Government figure for the poverty threshold of a nonferm family of four was $5820 in 197G. Telephone conversation with the Bureau of the Census. PAGENO="0040" 32 Black families headed by women and in poverty suffered more acutely than those headed by white women. The number of their fami- lies rose from 700,000 in 1968 to 1 million by 1976, or by 43 percent, compared with a 36-percent increase in the number of poor families headed by white women. Low economic growth and resulting unemployment in the period 1969-76 actually reduced living standards. Measured in dollars of constant purchasing power, the average weekly earnings of nonsuper- visory workers in private nonagricultural employment were lower in 1976 than 1969. Despite the fact that in 1975 a larger proportion of families benefited from women's earnings than in 1969, the median income of all families, measured in constant dollars, was actually lower.4 Rampant inflation was a basic element in these living standard declines; post-World War II experience clearly indicated that exces- sive lrice rises are now closely associated with high unemployment and low economic growth rates. From 1947 to 1953, the annual rate of real growth averaged 4.9 percent. Unemployment averaged 4 percent during the period and declined to a low of 2.9 percent by 1953. Con- snmer price rises averaged only 3 percent a year, and in 1953 these prices were less than 1 percent higher than in the previous year. Similarly in 1960-68. a period of relatively healthy economic growth, unemployment declined continuously from a high of 6.7 per- cent in 1961 to 3.6 perecent in 1968, with price increases averaging less than 2 percent a year. In contrast, during the years 1969 to 1976, unemployment rose from 3.5 percent to a peak of 8.5 percent in 1975 and remained at the high level of 7.7 percent in 1976, with an average of 5.8 percent for the i~eriod; consumer price rises averaged 6.5 percent, or more than three times the rate of advance registered in the preceeding 8 years. Prices increased 11 percent in 1974 compared with 1973, were 9.1 per- cent more in 1975 (when unemployment reached the highest level since the Great Depression) than in 1974, and advanced by another 5.8 percent in 1976. These comparative trends indicate that a full employment policy does not necessarily have a serious inflationary impact. lVhen our pro- ductive resources are underutilized, the unit cost of many products rises, sales shrink, and many industries raise their prices in an effort to reach profit targets nonetheless. When economic expansionary poli- cies are implemented and fuller use is made of plant capacity. produc- tivity gains increase~, unit costs fall and sales rise. These developments reduce inflationary pressures. IV. THE HIGH [TLNERABILITY OF MINORITY Wo~rnx Minority women are far more vulnerable than white women to eco- nomic downturns. Not only is their labor force participat1on higher their unemployment rate has a.veraged about 80 percent above that of white women over the last 26 years. A larger proportion have depend- ents and their median earnings are lower; as a result. a much greater proportion experience the hardships of poverty. `The 1976 famIly Income data were not as yet available at time of writing. PAGENO="0041" 33 Of the 39 million women in the labor force in 1976, 5 million, or 13 percent, were nonwhite (of whom 90 percent were black). For many years, their labor force participation rates have been higher thaii for white women. In 1950, 47 percent of minority women were in the labor force, compared with 33 percent of white women. This difference has narrowed markedly in subsequent years. By 1976 the labor force par- ticipation rate for minority women was 50.2 percent, while that of white women, which had risen far more rapidly, was 46.9 percent. The difference in these labor force participation rates in 1976 would undoubtedly have been greater had minority women not been far more affected by unemployment, both reported and hidden. During the period 1950-76, recorded unemployment of minority women was 79 percent higher than that of white women, averaging 9.5 percent a year, compared with 5.3 percent. It should be stressed that official unemployment rate.s are understated to a greater degree for minority women than for white because the higher the unemploy- ment rate for any group, the more likely are its members to give up the job search when times are hard. Thus, larger proportions of them are omitted from the official unemployment statistics. The greater financial responsibilities of minority women are another factor which undoubtedly would have lifted their employment rates faster had more jobs been available to them. The average income of nonwhite males who are family heads is lower than that of white males who head families; this fact puts added pressure on minority wives to seek employment. Media.n income of black males who headed their families was $11,389 in 1975, compared with $15,094 for white male family heads, or about 25 percent lower; it was $10,925 for male family heads of Spanish origin, or 28 percent lower than for white male heads of households. Nonwhite heads of families suffered about twice the rate of unemployment experienced by white male family heads throughout the post World War II period. Furthermore, a far larger and more rapidly growing proportion of nonwhite women than of white women head their families. In March 1976, about a third of all nonwhite families were headed by women, compared with 1 out of 10 white families. The respective proportion had been 21 percent and 9 percent in 1955. Despite these comparative differences, the occupational pattern of minority women has been improving. In 1955, 55 percent of all em- ployed minority women were in service occupations; this proportion had dropped sharply to 35 percent by 1976. In the latter year, a much larger proportion of minority women were in the more economically advantaged white collar jobs; the proportion had risen from 24 to 46 percent over this same 11 year period. But there are still marked occupational differences between minority and white women. While 35 percent of minority women were in the service occupations in 1976, this was 86 percent higher than the pro- portion of white women in this category. And while 46 percent of mi- nority women were in white collar jobs, this compared with 66 percent of white women. These differences, among others, indicate the continu- ing need for the intensification of efforts to eliminate discrimination on the basis of race as well as sex. Occupational differences between the two gToups of women may be expected to narrow to a greater degree in the years immediately ahead. PAGENO="0042" 34 This is indicated by the fact that the gap between the occupational status of white and minority women, aged 16-34, is much less than that among women 35 years of age and older. This reflects progress, especially with respect to relative educational opportunities. There is now virtually no difference between the median years of school com- pleted by white and minority women workers (12.5 and 12.3 years, respectively, in 1974). Only 15 years ago, there was a difference of 2.8 years. The percentage of black young women enrolled in college in- creased nearly 3~/2 fold between 1964 and 1974, while that of white young women a little more than doubled. There is still much to be done, nevertheless, to assure the equalization of education with respect to quality. Despite remaining inequities, there ha.s been a very important gain made by nonwhite women in recent years which should be stressed. Al- though, as previously indicated, the gap between the median earnings of men and women for year-round, full-time work has been widen- ing, the gap between the earnings of white and nonwhite women work- ers has been closing rapidly. In 1939, the median year-round, full-time earnings of nonwhite women were 38 percent those of white women. By 1975, the ratio had risen to 96 percent, reflecting diminishing racial dif- ferences in the relative occupational opportunities of the two groups of women. Measured in 1975 dollars, the earnings of nonwhite women for year-round, full-time work increased nearly sixfold from $1,267 in 1969 to $7,237 in 1975. V. UNEMPLOYMENT AND TEENAGERS No group has a larger stake in full employment than teenaged youth. During 1976, 19 percent of 16-to-19-year-olds were officially recorded as out of work, or nearly one out of five. The rate was 37 percent for minority teenagers, with the rate for minority girls being 31/2 per- centage points higher than for boys. These rates are even more seri- ously understated than those for adults, beca.use the doors of employ- ment opportunities are more tightly closed against young people than others. A large proportion of them see no point in pounding the pave- ment futilely in search of nonexistent jobs, and hence go uncounted among the unemployed. Officially recorded youth unemployment has gTown worse during the post World War II years. In the 1950's, it averaged 11.3 percent; in the 1960's, 14.9 percent; during 1970-76, 16.8 percent; in 1q76, teen- age unemployment was 24 percent higher than in 1970 and 56 Percellt higher than in 1950. To be a minority teenager and female has added areatiy to the hazards of unemployment during the past 25 years. Their recorded unemployment rose from 15 percent in 1950 to 31.2 percent in 1965. and to 39 percent in 1976. During the past 26 years as a whole. the. unem- ployrnent rate for minority girls averaged 25 percent higher than for minority boys aged 16 to 19, and was more than double that for white girls in that age group. Including those no longer actively searching for a job. at least one out of every two nonwhite teenage girls who need and want jobs re- mains out of work at the present time. This is a miserable way ~o enter PAGENO="0043" 35 into adult life in this the richest Nation in the world, a country fully capable of providing jobs for all. The consequences of years of idle- ness are appalling to consider, not only for young women, but for society as a whole. Rising teenage unemployment is closely associated with rising juvenile crime rates and higher rates of teenage pregnancy and illegitimate births. To deprive these young people of the chance to use their abilities, `to earn income, to get a toehold on the ladder of eco- nomic opportunity, and to feel needed, is a tragic and unconscionable human waste our Nation can no longer afford nor continue to tolerate. It will take years for many young people to recover from this current period of intensive job deprivation. Many may never do so. VI. SOME CHALLENGES TO ACTION If national economic policies were adopted to reduce unemployment to 4 percent by mid-1981, (3 percent for adults aged 20 and over) about 9 million jobholders would be added to the labor force, over and above the number employed in 1976. Based on trends.during the post-'World War II years, an estimated 60 to 65 percent of these jobs would be available to women, for women represent a very large part of the reservoir of potential workers on which a fully growing `economy could draw. Unemployment among women, both as recorded officially and hidden, would be reduced far more percentagewise than among men. Welfare outlays would diminish sharply, for many women now on public assistance would want em- ployment and would be able to obtain it. Healthy rates of ecOnomic growth would also encourage wage gains for those now earning sub- sistence wages, the majority of whom are women. Women would benefit by increased employment not only for them- selves, but also for unemployed husbands and secondary members of their families. Higher gains in real wages would also occur in a fuller employment economy, as distinguished from a highly unemployed one. Optimum real economic growth (about 6 percent annual average, 1976-80), would sharply reduce unemployment, and higher real wages would 80011 bring a large proportion of those now living in poverty well above the poverty line. When workers are in growing demand, women will have far better opportunities to compete for promotion and for entry into the labor force at higher levels. While the achievement of full employment would help greatly to redress current inequities, strong nondiscrimi- natory employment policies would need to be written into whatever job development programs were to be enacted to achieve recovery goals. Improvement in a number of specific areas would do much to ad- vance women's employment-_both qualitatively aild quantitatively__ whether or not we achieve full employment. The most important areas include anticliscrimination measures, child care, part-time work, changes in social security laws and the equal rights amendment. A good start would be to implement more effectively the antidis- crimination legislation and orders which already exist. This includes title VII of the Civil Right~s Act of 1964, Executive Order 11246 as amended by Executive Order 11375 to eliminate employment discrim- PAGENO="0044" 36 ination by Government contractors, the Age Discrimination Act of 1967, the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 which requires nondiscriminatory employment policy for qualified handicapped individuals, and other measures against job discrimination in specific occupations and in- dustries. Amendments to title VII in 1972 created an Equal Employ- ment Opportunities Council to develop agreements and consistent policies for the large number of Federal agencies involved. Some sig- nificant gains resulted, but there is still cause for concern about con- tinuing functional overlap and inadequate implementation. The Equal Employment Opportunities Commission which admin- isters title VII has fallen far behind in processing complaints of dis- crimination. It is reported that a backlog of more than 150,000 cases has piled up, with the avei~age complaint pending for more than 2 years. Numerous investigations of alleged irregularities and mismanage- ment are in process. It might be more useful to appoint a special Presidential Commission to make an all-inclusive review of the pres- ent practices under title VII and other anticliscrimination laws and regulations with a view to recommending consolidation of responsi- bilities and elimination of overlapping functions. The U.S. Civil Rights Commission, it should be noted, has recom- mended the consolidation of all Federal equal employment enforce- ment organizations into a single new agency to be called the National Employment Rights Board. It would have both litigative and admin- istrative authority to enforce one law banning job discrimination in the private sector on the basis of sex, color, religion, age and handi- cap. Since legislative review and rewrite is clearly essential, this should be given a high order of congressional priority. The elimination of employment discrimination should be far more vigorously pursued in both the private and public sectors. There are many agencies in the Federal Government which have poor records regarding the hiring and promotion of women. Monitoring of current practices, whicli has become lax. should be improved. The Congress itself should examine equality for women employed within its own jurisdiction and should take early corrective action. Strong and effec- tively monitored guidelines to eliminate sex discrimination in connec- tion with revenue sharing are also needed. Child care is a second area of importance in lowering barriers which limit the work opportunities of women. An increase in Federal ap- propriations could improve and expand day care services for the chil- dren of working mothers; subsidies would help bring these services within the reach of women in the lower and moderate income brackets. The Federal Government has an obligation to children and their families to improve standards of both federally funded and non- funded day care facilities. Every child has a right to be protected against the hazards inherent in seriously substandard out-of-home care. Greater availability of part-time jobs and flexible work hours is a third area of importance to women workers. This would expand em- ployment opportunities for many women who are presently full-time homemakers, as well as for the elderly and the handicapped. It is vital that the Federal Government itself serve as a pace setter and provide an example to private employers in these areas. PAGENO="0045" 37 A fourth challenge to action is the need to amend the social security system to assure equity for women and men. One existing inequity affects working wives who contribute to the social security system and earn their own benefit rights. On retirement, they are entitled to those benefits, or to half their husbands', whichever is larger. Often the earned benefits are smaller. In such cases, women's contributions to the system give them no greater entitlement than wives who have never been employed. Women workers have reason to feel they are en- titled to more because of the contributions they have paid. Further- more, even if a working wife's earnings entitled her to a benefit some- what larger than she would have received as a dependent, she will have paid a disproportionately high tax for that extra amount. Another type of social security inequity concerns a retired man and wife, both of whom have worked. They may receive less in benefits than a single earner family in which the breadwinner had the same total earnings and paid no more in social security taxes. Still another example is a retired man and wife, both of whom have worked, but who may have paid more in social security taxes; nevertheless, they receive less in benefits than a single earner family which had lower total earnings. Early passage of the Equal Rights Amendment in the three addi- tional States, necessary to write the amendment into the Constitution, would greatly assist in lowering remaining discriminatory barriers, and is a major national goal. Reference was made earlier to the fact that women workers in a severely slack economy become the subject of conflicting pressures be- tween the seniority system on the one hand and equal employment rights on the other. The seniority system provides very essential pro- tection to all workers. It should not be weakened, although affirmative employment action must be vigorously pursued. It has become in- creasingly clear that the full reconcilia.tion of seniority protection and affirmative employment action can only be achieved when there are sufficient jobs for everyone. There is no adequate solution in rationing scarce jobs, but only in achieving jobs in abundance. Full employ- ment is thus vital. Other targets for action include education and training, vocational guidance, the rights of homemakers and credit and insurance practices. Continuing high levels of economic activity would enlarge our na- tional capacity to meet human needs. If measures are enacted to assure the achievement of close to full employment by mid-1981, more peo- ple will have jobs, more people will earn more money, workers, businessmen, farmers, all people will prosper. Accordingly, our gov- ernments, Federal, State and local, will take in more in revenues without increased tax rates. If we achieve the needed rate of growth in the economy averaging annually about 6 percent during the 4 years 1977 through 1980, GNP over this period would be about 440 billion 1976 dollars higher, and total man- and woman-years of employment would be about 9 million higher. Consequently, Federal receipts at existing tax rates would be about $150 to $180 billion higher during the same 4-year period. Coupling this with the reductions in Federat outlays for unemployment insurance and other unemployment-related costs, it is easy to see how much more would be available for the great PAGENO="0046" 38 national priority programs which mean so much to women, among others. Women especially have a tremendous stake in translating this Fotential into actuality. A small part of a gain of this magnitude would finance a large part of the national health insurance program we so urgently need. It would make possible significant increases in social security. It would go far toward improving housing and com- munity development. Polluted land, air and water could be im- proved; increased outlays for education, day care and income supports for those in need and unable to work would be possible. All this and much more would be feasible-including hal ancing the Federal budget by 1980 or 1981. One final point should be made. Unfortunately, a number of people appear to have taken the position that women entering the labor force should be regarded as "different" from men. Instead of focus- ing on how to provide more and better jobs for women, they argue that women-and teenagers too-are less in need of jobs than men, less serious about obtaining them, and less constant in holding them when attained. Consequently, these people argue that we should ac- cept a higher percentage of overall unemployment than years ago, when the ratio of women to men holding jobs was much lower than today. This position is demeaning to women. Whether women need jobs less than men, or relate differently to the labor force, is not demon- strable and is entirely beside the point. On social, moral and civil grounds, anyone able, willing, and seeking to work has the right to work. This is good for the individual and good for our society. On purely economic grounds, we should overcome all objections to and fear of genuine full employment. The need of our economy and our people for goods and services will far exceed even our great capa- bilities for the foreseeable future. Desirable increases in income and living standards through private economic expansion have no ar- bitrary limitations. Public goods and services in high priority areas are woefully short of pressing needs. Our international obligations con- tinue to demand a large share of our total national product. For many years.to come, we will continue at best to have less than we legitimately aspire to. The theory that contrived scarcity is the way to restrain inflation or to balance the Federal budget has been tried and has failed. We must commit ourselves, and especially our national policies, to a new era of abundance, justly shared. We have the means and the knowledge to assure jobs for all who need and want them, to end recurrent recessions, and to eliminate dis~ crimination and inequities in employment, as well as in other aspects of our national life. We need only the will and the galvanizing of the national conscience toward these ends. MAJoR SOtTRCES OF STATISTICAL DATA USED 1. "Employment and Earnings," December 1976 and earlier issues, (Washington, D.C.: U.S. Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics). 2. "Monthly Labor Review," December 1976 and earlier issues, (Washington, D.C.: US. Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics). 3. "Handbook of Labor Statistics," 1974, (Washington, D.C.: U.S. Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics). PAGENO="0047" 39 4. "1975 Handbook on Women Workers," (Washington, D.C.: U.S. Department of Labor, Employment Standards Administration, Women's Bureau), bul- letin 297. 5. "Money Income in 1974 of Families and Persons in the United States," current population reports-consumer income, series P-GO, No. 101, January 1970, (Washington, D.C.: U.S. Department of Commerce, Bureau of the Census). 6. "Money Income and Poverty Status of Families and Persons in the United States": 1975 and 1974 Revisions (Advance Report), current population reports-consumer income, series P-GO, No. 100, September 1976, (Wash- ington, D.C.: U.S. Department of Commerce, Bureau of the Census). 7. "Female Family Heads," current population reports-special studies, series P-23, No. 50, July 1974, (Washington, D.C.: U.S. Department of Commerce, Bureau of the Census). 8. Current population reports, series P-50, Nos. 22 and 29, (Washington, D.C.: U.S. Department of Commerce, Bureau of the Census). 9. Special labor force reports, Nos. 13, 130, 173, 183, (Washington, D.C.: U.S. Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics). 10. Economic indicators, monthly issues, prepared for the Joint Economic Com- mittee by Council of Economic Advisers, Washington, D.C. PAGENO="0048" ON THE WAY TO FULL EQUALITY B~ IsABEL V. SAWHILL° CONTENTS Page I. Employment policies 41 A. Macroeconomic policy 42 1. Effect of fear of inflation 44 2. Impact of rate of economic recovery on women's em- ployment prospects 45 B. Microeconomic policy 46 1. Transition programs for inexperienced workers 46 2. Job segregation and price stability 47 3. Job seniority 48 II. Why employment policies are not enough 49 A. Coping with dual responsibilities at home and at work 50 B. Modifying existing policies which are based on outmoded as- sumptions about sex roles 51 C. Protecting the homemaker 52 D. Creating options for younger women 54 III. Conclusions 56 Bibliography 57 Women have a long way to go before they achieve equality with men. Nevertheless, they are on the way, and it is quite certain that the tide will not be turned. Motivated by a. new set of aspirations and needs. they are seeking a more favorable position in the social structure. often challenging or modifying the fundamental nature. of that structure in the process. Society cannot help but respond. It is the nature of the response that is in question. Perhaps the major prerequisite to equality is economic independence. With economic independence comes the power to influence events, greater self-reliance, and the satisfaction of contributing one's talents or resources to the world at large. These are the psychological rewards which are pulling women toward more autonomous roles. At the same time, a new set of social and economic realities is also pushing them toward greater economic independence. These realities include a rising divorce rate which means that women cannot. necessarily rely on mar- riage to provide lifelong economic security, an increasing lifespan be- yond the childrearing years which leaves older women underemployed at home, and the increasing pressure to have two earners in the family in order to achieve a more adequate standard of living. * These developments have profound implications for both indivici- uals and social institutions, especially the institution of the family. Public policies need to be shaped with these fundamental aiid far- reaching changes in mind. In what follows, I have attempted to lay out a variety of the policy issues which need to be addressed. The discus- *Senior research associate, Urban Institute, Washington. D.C. (40) PAGENO="0049" 41 sion draws heavily on work recently completed by a group of my Urban Institute colleagues who are studying the issues.' It centers first on employment policies. But since women's role in the labor market cannot be viewed in isolation from their role within the family or the polity, it then goes on to ask what role policy should play, if any, in meeting a number of other challenges. These challenges include (1) the need to find new ways of dealing with the pressures facing the two- earner family, (2) the need to redesign a variety of existing laws and practices which assume women are men's dependents-laws which have been rendered obsolete by women's new commitment to work outside the home, (3) the need to simultaneously provide dignity and financial security for homemakers and (4) the need to help younger men and women make more informed choices about marriage, childbearing, and careers-choices which will greatly affect not only their own lives, but also tile kind of society which emerges in the next century. I. EMPLOYMENT POLICIES It is, of course, possible that women's steady march out of the home and into the labor force is a short-lived or reversible phe- nomenon. How much momentum is there to this trend? When will it level off-as eventually it must? While no one can say with any pre- cision what the future will hold, there are reasons for believing that the rate at which women participate in the labor force will continue its upward trend. First, there has been a remarkable shift in attitudes about women's roles. To take just one example, the proportion of female high school graduates who agreed with the statement "it is much better for everyone involved if the man is the achiever outside the home and the woman takes care of the home and the family" fell from 75 percent in 1970 to 55 percent in 1974. Among female college graduates, this proportion fell from 46 percent in 1970 to 21 percent in 1974.2 In addition to such shifts in ideology, there have been a number of longer run demographic and economic changes which are also likely to affect the number of women seeking to enter the labor market. One such shift is in the timing of births an.d deaths. Women born in the 1880's could expect the marriage of their last child to coincide with their own or their spouse's death around age 56 or 57. Women born in the 1940's can expect their last child to marry before they are 50 and their own lifespan to extend well into their seventies.~ Thus, the "empty nest" is a relatively new phenomenon, but if fertility rates continue to decline, tile nests of the future will be still smaller and could empty out even faster than at present. In addition, approximately 1 out of every 3 members of this more recent generation (i.e., women currently in their thirties) can be expected to end their first marriage in divorce.~ And, even if they remain married, the pressure to contribute their own earnings to fam- 1 These colleagues Include Ralph Smith, Nancy Gordon, Kristin Moore, and Carol A. Jones, who are the "hidden authors" of this paper. The views expressed here, however, are my own and do not represent the opinions of the Urban Institute or Its sponsors. 2 Karen Oppenheim Mason, John Czojka, and Sara Arber, "Change in U.S. Women's Sex-Role Attitudes, 1964-74" (University of MichIgan, August 1975). `Karl E. Taeuber and James A. Sweet, "Family and Work-: The Social Life Cycle of Women," in "Women and the American Economy," Juanita M. Kreps, ed. (Englewood Cliffs, N.J. : Prentice-Hall, Inc., 1976). Paul Glick and Arthur Norton, "Perspectives on the Recent Upturn in Divorce and Remarriage," Demography, vol. 10, No. 3 (August 1973). 91-6S6--77----4 PAGENO="0050" 42 ily income will increase as the standard of living which a two-earner family can enjoy becomes more common and invites greater emulation. By March 1975, 49 percent of all husband-wife families had both spouses in the labor force.5 In short, the old assumptions that every male job can support a family and that every female can count on being a wife and mother for a lifetime have weakened. Thus, even where women have not been touched by the promises of feminist ideals-and many have not-they are increasingly faced with the challenge of earning their own living or of contributing to family income. Once in the work force, many may find the psychological as well as the financial rewards of working compelling. When a sample of 443 employed women was asked if they would continue to work for pay even if they had enough money to live as comfortably as they'd like for the rest of their lives, 59 percent said they would remain in the labor force.6 Given these trends, the question facing policymakers is whether the increasing number of women who need or want to work out.side the home will be able to find employment. The answer depends on both the overall level of demand in the economy and the extent to which the composition of that demand meshes with the composition of the avail- able labor force. Employment policies have a major role to play in determining the outcome. A. Macroeconomic Policy Looking first at the overall level of demand, what are the chances that it will be sufficient to absorb a growing labor force ~ One idea, which appears to be an article of faith among much of the public, is that there are a fixed number of j ohs in the economy and that if women get these jobs, men will suffer. This concern is reminiscent of the debate in the early 1960's about technological unemployment. It was argued then that machines were replacing human labor and that this would lead to chronic unemployment. Similarly, the new popular wisdom argues that as women move from home to marketplace, there will be a glut of workers competing for a limited number of jobs. How much truth is there to such contentions ~ Unless one has lost all fa.ith in the ability of monetary and fiscal policy to generate a growing number of jobs to match the needs of a growing labor force, then, at a general level, such fears seem to be mis- placed. At the same time, there is some basis for these concerns. First, it is true that rapid changes in the number of people seeking jobs are likely to overtax the short-run capacity of labor markets to absorb them. Even when there is a sufficient number of jobs in the aggregate, the difficult process of matching existing vacancies with the charac- teristics of job seekers is bound to leave some workers unemployed and some employers with unfilled vacancies. One cannot use an English This statistic excludes families in which the husband was not employed. 75.5. Denart- mont of Labor. Employment and Training Administration, "Emuloyment and Training Report of the President" (Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office. 197d1. table B-P Howard Hayge, "Families and the Rise of Working Wives-An Overview." Snecial Labor Force Report 1S9. ILS. Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics (Wash- in~ton. D.C.: Government Printing Office, 1976). 6 Angus Campbell, Philip B. Converse, and Willard L. Rodgers, "The Quality of Ameri- can Life: Perceptions, Evaluations, and Satisfactions" (New York: Russell Sage Founda- lion, 1976). PAGENO="0051" 43 teacher as a computer programer, or vice versa. Second, future in- creases in the rate at which women participate in the labor force may not be correctly anticipated, and if underestimated, the result may be inadequate macroeconomic stimulus and a shortfall in aggregate demand. Full employment is a moving target; it takes a growing number of jobs to provide for a growing labor force, and women are currently the prime movers of the target. If past trends can be used as a guide, then 6 out of every 10 net additions to the labor force over the next decade will be female. But this is a conservative estimate. The rate at which women have been entering the labor force has been accelerating. Between 1947 and 1965, their participation rate rose from 32 percent to 39 percent. During the past decade alone, their participation rate has risen another 7 points, to 46 percent~ or as much as in the preceding 18 years.7 And, during the recent recession and recovery, participation rates remained higher than would have been predicted on the basis of behavior during past downturns, catching most economics and macro- economic planners by surprise. In fact, the unexpected. rate at which women have continued to enter the labor force appears to have been partly responsible for the failure of the unemployment rate to fall more quickly during the recovery from the 1974-75 recession.8 One thin~ which is clearly needed, then, is better forecasts of the size of the female labor force in order to prevent costly mistakes in macro- economic policy. That need is currently not being met. The main source of labor force projections is the Bureau of Labor Statistics. These nrojections have consistently underestimated the growth in the female labor forbe. For example, in 1973 BLS published a set of projections that includes a participation rate for women in 1980 that was ex- ceeded in 1974.~ As an example of what could happen, suppose that policy planners were to extrapolate the growth of the female labor force on the basis of trends observed during the late sixties and early seventies.'° Under these condit.ions, the female participation rate is predicted to be 51.5 percent by 1980, and a 6 percent rate of growth in real GNP would bring the aggregate unemployment rate down to 4.5 percent by the end of the decade. If, however, there were a million additional women wishing to work (bringing their participation rate up to 52.7 percent by 1980), with the same growth in aggregate demand, the unemploy- ment rate would be 4.9 percent instead of 4.5 percent by 1980. Our research suggests that the "extra" unemployment generated by this unexpected labor market participation would probably be more or less equally shared between men and women since many men would be displaced by the availability of a much larger supply of female work- ers. The lesson to be learned from this hypotheticaT calculation is "Employment and training report of the President," 1976. table A-i. 8 Ralph Smith, "Unemployment and Labor Force Growth" (Washington, D.C.: Urban Institute, October 1976). D. F. Johnson, "The U.S. Labor Force: Projections to 1990," Special Labor Force Pen~rt 156 (Wasliinrton. D.C.: U.S. Denartment of Labor. 19731. cccl C. T. fl~ivp~n~ ~nc1 T. H. Morland, "Revised Projections for the U.S. Economy to 1980 and 1985," Monthly Labor Review, vol. 99 (March 1976), up. 9-21. 10 The hypothetical set of calculations reported here were worked out by Ralph Smith, using the Urban Institute's labor market model. For details see Ralph Smith, "The Impact of Macroeconomic Conditions on Employment Opportunities for Women," nrenared for the U.S. Congress, Joint Economic Committee. series on "Achieving the Goals of the Employment Act of 1946-30th Anniversary Review" (Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office, Jan. 3, 1977). PAGENO="0052" 44 clear; more accurate forecasts of the size of the female labor force is one prerequisite to the effective implementation of macroeconomic policy. 1. EFFECT OF FEAR OF INFLATION But let us assume that the growth in the potential female labor force (that is, the number of women who would want to work if the economy were at full employment) will be anticipated with some success and turn our attention instead to the adequacy of aggregate demand. It is, of course, the fear of inflation which largely inhibits the full utilization of macroeconomic measures to achieve or maintain full employment. While inflation can impose hardships on certain groups and lead to economic distortions, the costs of a sluggish or depressed economy may be even higher-both in terms of the lost out- put which idle workers could be producing, or in terms of the human costs associated with loss of income, impaired self-esteem, and disap- pointed aspirations. We Imow that these latter costs are unevenly distributed. What portion of the costs is borne by women? Some an- swers have been provided by my colleague, Ralph Smith.11 His find- ings can be summarized as follows. During the 1974-75 recession, the number of people unemployed rose by 3.6 million; of these 38 percent were women a.nd 62 percent were men. In addition, it is estimated that another 0.9 million people would have been looking for work had job prospects been more encouraging. Adding these discouraged workers to the unemployed gives an estimate of 4.5 million people left jobless by the recession. Of these, 40 percent were women and 60 percent were men. Since women held 39 percent of the total jobs in the economy at the start of the recession, it does not appear that they suffered dis- proportionately. Rather, one could conclude from these figures that the recession was an equal opportunity disemployer. Smith's analysis indicates that the main reason women did not do worse is because the recession struck hardest at industries and occupa- tions in which few women are employed. Jobs in the construction and durable goods industries declined substantially; neither industry had many women on their payrolls. The major sources of jobs for women- retail trade and services-were least affected by the recession. Had the recession struck all industries with equal force, about 500,000 more women would have lost jobs. So a more pessimistic interpretation is that the recession was an equal opportunity disemployer only because of the occupational segregation of the labor force. In terms of main- taining their share `of jobs in each industry or occupation, women failed to do so. Our research suggests that this was more because women entering the labor force had difficulty finding jobs rather than because women already employed were laid off in large numbers. Women's employment share rose~ of course, in some industries, but declined in others. The most notable decline occurred in the durable goods manufacturing sector. In that industry-where massive layoffs occurred and where seniority rules prevailed-women lost about 100,- 000 more jobs in 1975 than they would have if `the employment losses had been proportionate to previous employment. ~1 Smith, "The Impact of Macroeconomic Conditions." PAGENO="0053" 45 2. IMPACT OF RATE OF ECONOMIC RECOVERY ON WOMEN'S EMPLOYMENT PROSPECTS Smith h-as also looked at the likely impact of the rate at which the economy recovers from the recession on women's employment pros- pects for the rest of the decade. He compares two alternative recovery paths, which correspond to the two sets of macroeconomic assumptions used by the Congressional Budget Office to make budget estimates through fiscal year 1981.12 Under path A, which assumes a 6-percent growth rate in real GNP, the unemployment rate would fall from 8.5 percent in 1975 to 4.5 percent in 1980; under path B, which assumes a 5-percent growth rate in real GNP, the unemployment rate would still be above 6 percent in 1980. As indicated in table 1, -a relatively sluggish recovery would have more impact on the male than on the female unemployment rate.13 Under path B the male unemployment rate would be ~.1 percentage points higher and the female unemployment rate only 1.4 percentage points higher than under path A. But a comparison of their )obless rates-which measure both discouragement and unemployment-leads one to quite a different conclusion. Under path B, the male jobless rate would be 2.3 percentage 1~oints higher and the female jobless rate 3.3 percentage points higher than under path A. What these numbers mean, in short, is that if fears of inflation or other factors lead to a timid application of macroeconomic policy and if this retards the recovery, many women who would have otherwise worked will not have the opportunity to do so. Some, but by no means all, of these women will join the ranks of the unemployed. The rest will join the ranks of discouraged housewives, students, welfare recipients, early retirees, and just plain dropouts from the system. For the individuals involved, the financial and emotional toil entailed is difficult to esti- mate, but likely would be considerable. For society as a whole, there would be a loss of output and of the tax revenues which additional growth produces. TABLE 1.-EFFECTS OF ALTERNATIVE MACROECONOMIC SCENARIOS ON MEN AND WOMEN [Effects of rapid (6 percent) versus slow growth (5 percent) in real GNP; assuming past trends in the labor force participation rates of women continue in the futurel Percentage Path A rapid Path B slow point growth growth difference -- *~_._ -- .___ Estimated unemployment rate for 1980: Female 5.4 6.8 1.4 Male 3.8 5.9 2.1 Total 4.5 6.3 1.8 Estimated jobless rate for 1980: Female 6.2 9.5 3.1 Male 4.1 6.4 2.3 Total 5.0 7.7 2.7 Ia "Five-Year Budget Projections, Fiscal Years 1977-81" (Washington. D.C.: Concres- sionsl Budget Office, Jan. 20, 1970). These are not predictions of future economic conditions. 13 Working women's share of the gains from the recovery wlll depend. as already Indi- cated, on the extent to which the proportion of women seeking to participate in the paid labor force continues to rise. It will also depend on their success in entering new fields, as discussed in the next section of this paper. The estimates presented in table 1 abstract from these two kinds of changes; they are based on a labor market model which implicitly assumes that past trends and patterns In the employment of men and women will continue. PAGENO="0054" 46 B. Mici'oeconornic Policy Even assuming a more healthy recovery along growth path A, the overall unemployment rate would still be 4.5 percent by 1980 and con- siderably higher than this among women and other disadvantaged groups. However, any attempt to push the unemployment rate still lower by macroeconomic means alone would probably involve an un- acceptable degree of inflation. In fact, these inflationary pressures may well reassert themselves long before even this low level of Tmemploy- ment is achieved. It will be important, then, to supplement fiscal and monetary policy with a more selective set of employment or income (wage-price) policies. One can more successfully navigate between the Scylla and Charybdis of inflation and unemployment if an ap- propriate set of structural measures can be designed and implemented. On the employment side, these measures need to be targeted at groups with above-average unemployment rates: Teenagers, women, and minorities. With the possible exception of minorities, one characteristic these groups have in common is a lack of recent labor market experi- ence. Rather than moving from one job to another, these groups must make the more difficult transition from school to work or from work in the home to work in the market. That this is a much more im- portant reason for female than for male unemployment is indicated in table 2. Moreover, during periods of relatively full employment, people attempting these transitions usually account for about half of those who are out of work. In 1973, for example, when the total unemployment rate was 4.9 percent, the proportion of the unem- ployed who were new entrants or reentrants to the labor force was 46 percent.14 Granted that this transition is difficult, that it affects women more than men, and that it becomes an increasingly important factor for unemployment as economic conditions improve, what can be done about the problem? TABLE 2-1975 UNEMPLOYMENT RATES BY REASON FOR UNEMPLOYMENT Adult male Adult female Total unemployment rate Lost last job 6.7 8. 0 Left last job 5. 1 4.0 Reentered labor force .6 1.1 Never worked before 1.0 . 1 2.6 .3 Source: "Employment and Training Report of the President," 1976, table A-25. 1. TRANSITiON PROGRAMS FOR INEXPERIENCED WORKERS One approach would be to establish special employment programs for inexperienced workers-programs designed to ease the transition into the labor force. For example, special apprenticeships at below-- market wage rates might be established in a wide variety of fields. The lower wages would provide an incentive for employers to hire and train thexperienced workers. The Government's role could be confined to certifying the training component and duration of the programs, encouraging their development (perhaps through demonstration pro- 14 "Employment and Training Report of the President," 1976. table A-20. PAGENO="0055" 47 grams or modest subsidy of development costs), and removing possible barriers to the payment of below-market wages, including in some cases, wages below the legal minimum. This proposal has much in com- mon with the idea of creating a youth differential in the minimum wage, except that it incorporates a more explicit training component and is targeted at all inexperienced workers, not just teenagers. Older women entering the labor force after a lengthy absence might be prime beneficiaries, for example. As with the minimum wage proposal. how- ever, some concern would undoubtedly be voiced about. the possible dis- placement effects for experienced workers and more thought would need to be given to the eligibility requirements for entry into the pio- gram and its possible direct and indirect effects. If properly structured, special apprenticeship programs could also help women to acquire the necessary on-the-job training to break into new fields. Certainly, women's future employment prospects are likely to depend as much on the composition of demand as on the overall rate of growth in economic activity. Thus, we need to know which occlTpa- tions are likely to expand most rapidly, and whether women will be ready to move into nontraditional fields. The existing occupational segregation of the male and female work force has been well docu- mented. It is the primary reason for women's lower pay and may also increase their unemployment. Although some of the segregation may be related to women's less continuous work history, a great deal of it appears to be a direct result of cultural stereotypes which affect both employers' and women's attitudes in a mutually reinforcing fashion. 2. JOB SEGREGATION AND PRICE STABILITY To understand the importance of this issue for the future, assume for simplicity that the economy is divided into just two occupations; one (which we can call M) is reserved for men and the other (which we can call F) is reserved for women. Now assume that 5 out of every 10 new job openings are in M and 5 in F, but that 6 out of every 10 new workers coming into the labor force is female. Clearly, this would lead to an upward pressure on male employment and wage rates and a corresponding downward pressure on female employment and wage rates-a-unless women seek jobs and are permitted or encouraged to work in the male sector. Moreover, since the upward pressure on male wage rates is likely to be greater than the downward pressure on female wage rates (because of institutional rigidities which inhibit employers from cutting wages), such imbalances are likely to increase wages and prices, even before all resources are fully employed. Thus, occupational segregation makes it more difficult to simultaneously achieve full employment and price stability through macroeconomic measures. The above scenario assumes that female jobs will not expand as rapidly as the female labor force. The reverse is also quite possible, but since the great majority of new workers will almost certainly be women, the demand-supply balance is likely to favor men unless there is rapid growth in the female sector of the job market or significant new job opportunities for women in nontraditional fields. Whatever the case, both a well-functioning economy and greater equality for PAGENO="0056" 48 women require breaking down the sex-typing of occupations. There will be debate about whether this is best accomplished through affirma- tive action programs, through counseling adolescent women, or through a general shift in socialization practices which affect. even very young children, but probably all three will need to play a. role. The time frames in which they will be effective are, of course, very different. Affirmative action programs may have the smallest direct impact but one which is a.t least immediate. IJnfortuna.tely, the effectiveness of these programs has been undermined by administrative inefficiency. the inadequacy of resource.s committed to enforcement, and a misal- location of these limited resources to the processing of individual cases rather than to rooting' out endemic patterns and practices of disc.rirni- nation.15 If implemented properly, the longer i-un effects of these equal opportunity programs are potentially great. The kind of incremental progress which is currently taking place under their auspices becomes the basis for a cumulative and more fundamental change in attitudes. 3. JOB SENIORITy Finally, it is important. to note that. the leve.l of overall demand and the composition of employment interact in a. number of important ways. We have already seen that women did not fare too badly during the recent recession because of their occupational and industrial dis- tribution. As they move into male-dominated industries which are more cyclically sensitive, the operation of seniority systems in these industries will put a much la.rge.r fraction of the female labor force in the unenviable position of being the first to be laid off. One way to reconcile the current conflict between seniority and equal opportunity goals is to find `alternatives to the use of seniority systems. such as staggered layoffs or across-the-board reductions in hours and pay for all employees. This has been tried quite successfully in a. number of companies or loca.l government agencies.16 Such arrangements not oniy seem fairer from an equal opportunity perspective but offer a number of other possible advantages as well. Employers may find that reductions in time worked enhance. hourly productivity, and unless offset by higher costs for mandated fringe benefits, or the lower productivity of less experience.d workers, this could even reduce unit labor costs. Employees, for their part. may find that shorter hours, even at less pay, dovetail well with their own preferences for leisure over income or with competing demands on their time, such as child care responsibilit.ies or continuing education. In the past, cyclically induced declines in hours worked have been a principal catalyst for a secular decline in the length of the standard workweek.1T The recent UAW settlement with the Ford Motor Co., points up the growing demand for a shorter workweek. In this case, shorter hours are being' demanded with no cut in pay. Over the long run, such settlements ultimately mean less total output, `and thus, less 17 Barbara R. Bergmann, "Rer1ucin~ the Pervasiveness of Discrimination" in "Jobs for Americans", Eli Ginsberg. ccl. (Englewoocl Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice-Hall. 1976). ~° U.S. Commission on Civil Rights, "Last Hired, First Fired: Layoffs and Civil Rights," draft report, October 1976. 17 Juanita M. Kreps. "Some Time Dimensions of Manpower Policy." in "Jobs for Ameri- cans", Eli Gin~berg, ed. (Englewood Cliffs, N.J. : Prentice-Hall, 1076). PAGENO="0057" 49 real income for the workers involved. But workers do not lose their jobs in the process, and this is an important point, because there is growing evidence that it is one's employment status rather than one's income which is most highly correlated with such things as a positive outlook on life, social integration, good health, and family stabil~ty.'8 One reason there is a critical need to find new strategies for deal- ing with the equal opportuiiity implications of seniority based lay- ofFs in periods of high unemployment is because relatively little new hiring takes place when the economy is depressed. And, since affir- mative action has traditionally operated through the hiring process, progress for women and minorities is likely to be slowed, halted, or even reversed if few or no new hires are taking place. In short, even the best enforced affirmative action programs will not be terribly successful in a no-growth economy. To summarize, women's move toward greater economic independ- ence depends on the simultaneous pursuit of two goals. First., there must be a commitment to full employment and a growth rate ade- quate to absorb all those who wish jobs. And second, there must be a commitment to eliminate occupational barriers which lower wom- en's earnings and employment opportunities and contribute to infla- tionary pressures. Pursuit of either of these goals in isolation from the other is likely to frustrate women's progress toward equality in the labor market. Their progress toward equality will also depend on the extent to which needed adjustments in, and redefinitions of, traditional sex roles occur and on the wisdom with which public policies impacting this broader area are designed. It is these policy issues to which I now turn. II. Wmr EMPLOYMENT PoLiciEs ARE NOT ENoUGH Although more employment opportunities are a necessary pre- requisite if women are to achieve greater economic independence, they are not sufficient. Public policy must deal with the continuing reality of an uneven division of responsibilities between men and women for home and family life. It must also cope with the disloca- tions which a rapid change in the actual or perceived status of worn- eu imposes on individuals, laws, and social institutions. More specifi- cally. the attention of the Congress and others might usefully be directed to four areas. First, we could develop policies which might help the growing number of two-earner families cope with their dual responsibilities at home and at work. Second, we could modify existing laws and policies which are obsolete because they assume female dependency as the norm. Third, we might simultaneously retain or design new policies which would protect those individuals (mostly older wom- en) who disproportionately bear the costs of past discrimination or of having earlier adopted a socially approved pattern of depend- ency. Finally, we cannot ignore those younger women, especially among the poor and less well educated, whose life chances continue 18U.S. Commission on Civil Rights, op. cit.; M. Harvey Brenner. "Estimating the Social Costs of National Economic Policy: Implications for Mental and Physical Health, and Criminal Aggression," U.S. Congress, Joint Economic Committee (washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office, 1976). PAGENO="0058" 50 to be constrained by their own often unrntencled or uninformed investments in more traditional roles, including very early child- bearing, early marriage, or choice of an overcrowded "woman's" field, including "occupation housewife." Some discussion of these issues is an essential part of the policy debate surrounding the increased commitment of women to work outside the home. This commitment, and our evaluation of it, hinges on the ability of individuals and institutions, especially the institution of t.he family, to make the needed adjustments. A. Coping With Dual Responsibilities at Home and at Work As long as women have two jobs-one at home and one in the market-while men have only one, it will be impossible for women to compete on an equal basis with men in the labor market. A great deal of research has been devoted to showing the impact of women's more discontinuous and limited work experience, their constrained geographic mobility, and the shorter hours they work on their earn- ings and occupational status. Moreover, time budget studies suggest that women have less leisure, on the average, than men because of their dual responsibilities. And, Perhaps most importantly of all, we need to be concerned about what will happen to children as fewer and fewer of them can count on the full-time care of one parent. There are a number of possible solutions to the problems engendered by the double burden of job and family which so many women now face. One is greater male-female sharing of housework and child care, with the division of responsibilities reflecting the true preferences and abilities of the individuals involved rather than being culturally pre- determined. A second is a trend toward smaller families, increased childlessness, and a general deemphasizing of home-centered activities. A third solution involves delegating the care of children and other household tasks to more specialized institutions: schools, day-care cen- ters, commercial cleaning establishments, restaurants, and so forth. A fourth possibility would be to monetize the work which presently takes place within the family, perhaps providing salaries to all those who care for young children, as is currently done in Hungary, or pro- viding vouchers which can be used for child care within or outside of the home. Finally, new ways of organizing work in the market-such as more flexible or shorter hours, more conveniently located workplaces, and less emphasis on transferring employees to new geographic loca- tions-could help to meet the needs of two-earner families. In the confines of this paper it is not possible to even begiii to lay out all the alternative policies which might be developed in these areas. their costs and benefits, and their ultimate impact on social institutions and people's behavior. Much more thought needs to be devoted to these questions. But it is important that all possible alternatives be looked at before social policy coalesces around any single approach or fails to recognize the need for multipronged strategies. One alternative, of course, is to do nothing new on the policy front. This alternative has its own set of implications-neglected children? declining fertility? lower female labor force participation? greater responsiveness of private markets ?-which also need to be explored. PAGENO="0059" 51 B. Modifying Existing Policies Which Are Based on Outnwded Assumptions About Sex Roles The number of policies and practices that have fallen into this cate- gory are legion, although many are currently under attack or have been recently changed in response to feminist demands, new legisla- tion, or challenges in the courts. Examples include fringe benefit and pension policies, child custody and support decisions in contested di- vorces, jury and military service, protective labor laws, credit granting practices, and so forth. Of particular significance, however, because they dii~ectly affect the economic position of all individuals and fam- ilies, are our social security and income tax laws. Although these laws do not discriminate against women per se (except in the case of a few minor provisions) they are structured in a way which favors families in which there is a homemaking spouse over those with husband/wife earners. Thus, individuals who do not pursue a lifetime of marriage to one person, with each spouse performing his/her traditional roles, are generally penalized. More specifically, the social security system is plagued by two major problems. First, since the Social Security Act was initially intro- duced in the mid-thirties, the labor force participation of wives has increased threefold, with the result that more and more women are paying social security taxes. Yet most face the prospect of receiving benefits no larger or only slightly larger than had they stayed home and contributed nothing to the system. As the number of two-earner couples increases, it is likely that they will eventually gain sufficient political strength to rebel against what is essentially a subsidization of households with dependent adults by those without them. A second problem stems from the fact that women who devote their lives to homemaking are not insured as individuals, but only as their husbands' dependents, putting them in a vulnerable position should their marriage end in divorce. If the traditional marriage is viewed as an equal partnership to which each spouse contributes valuable goods and services over some period of time, then they should both share equally in the retirement benefits provided by the husband's earn- ings over the same period. These retirement benefits need to be vested in the individual rather than being conditional on continued "employ- ment" as one man's wife.19 On the income tax front, the principal issue is whether two couples, one consisting of two earners who receive $5,000 per year and one con- sisting of one earner who receives $10,000 per year, are equivalent for tax purposes. Currently, the tax system treats them as having equal ability to pay, ignoring differences in their work-related expenses or in their leisure time. It also tends to discourage wives from choosing market over nonmarket work, since only the former is taxed. Finally, because single individuals a.re eligible for lower tax rates than married individuals, two individuals who each have a career and thus benefit little from the income-splitting provisions of the current system, gen- erally find that marriage increases their total tax bill. A system of individually based income and payroll taxes-with no dependents' benefits-would go a long way toward removing the cur- 19 Some alternative mechanisms for achieving needed reform in the social security sys- tem are currently being explored by my colleague Nancy Gordon. PAGENO="0060" 52 rent inequities between one- and two-earner families. It would, of course, create incentives for people to marry or live together to the extent that such living arrangements are economically more efficient (that is, to the extent that two or more people can live together more cheaply than they can live apart). Such incentives may be entirely ap- propriate. Just as the tax system should encourage efficient forms of business organization, so too it would encourage efficient living arrangements. We do not give tax breaks to people who have pref- erences for more expensive cars. Why then give tax breaks to people who, for reasons of privacy or autonomy, wish to live in the more expensive single person household? On the other hand, an individually based social security and income tax system would remove some of the advantages now afforded fam- ilies with a nonemployed spouse: dependents' benefits under social Se- curity and the partial subsidization of homemaker services which in- come splitting currently provides. In effect, income splitting means that the Government shares in the costs of supporting a dependent wife, as any affluent bachelor who takes on a nonemployed wife Irnows. Unless one wishes to encourage such dependency (perhaps because it is sometimes associated with the provision of child care services), then this subsidization is not appropriate. However, some grandfathering in of current benefits and some mechanism to insure the dignity and financial independence of the homemakers of the future-although iiot necessarily at public expense-_deserves further exploration. In conclusion, one of the challenges in reforming social security and income tax laws is to eliminate current. inequities betweeii one- and two-earner families while simultaneously maintaining some protec- tions for those who have devoted some or all of their lives to home- making. We turn now to a~ more extended discussion of tl~e relationship between public policy and the status of the homemaker. U. Protecting the Hon~emaker Full-time homemaking is the ultimate form of occupational segrega- tion; very few men have ever chosen this career. Perhaps if it were not such an overcrowded and sex-linked field, it would have greater value and prestige. In the meantime, one cannot ignore the needs of women who have chosen this occupation as their life's work. As long as a homemaker remains married she presumably contributes her services to the family and shares in the standard of living wluch her unpaid work and her husband's earnings provide. The financial support which she receives is compensation for services rendered. In this sense she is being "paid," although her "salary" may be largely de- termineci by the success of her husband and Only loosely related to her own efforts. The relationship between the two will depend on the extent to which her own home-based efforts contribute to her husband's suc- cess and on the extent to which competition in the marriage market matches higher-earning husbands with more accomplished wives. Both spouses may agree that it is best for the wife to devote her time to child care arni other home-based activities while the husband specializes in earning ~he family income. Normally, this arrangement works well, but problems can occur for a number of reasons. First, because the arrange- ments are informal rather than contractual, each spouse must depend PAGENO="0061" 53 on voluntary compliance with the terms of the agreement. There is no legal recourse, except divorces should either party be negligent in per- forming his or her assigned duties. This informality also tends to undermine the dignity and financial independence of the wife. Second, some husbands are not able to afford homemaking wives. As Carolyn Bell has reminded us, not every job can, or should, support a family.2° And, as long as we have inequalities in earnings, this will continue to be the case. Where one income is insufficient, then it may be neces- sary for both spouses to work outside the home, leading to all the problems already discussed in connection with the two-earner family. A third and final problem occurs when women who have specialized in being wives and mothers find themselves "unemployed" in mid- career due to a husband's death, or more likely, as the result of a divorce or separation. The climb in the divorce rate has been proceeding at an unprece- dented rate. One result has been an enormous increase in single-parent families, especially those headed by women.2' Between 1970 and 1975 alone, the proportion of all children under 18 living in single-parent homes rose from 12 to 17 percent and most of this increase can be traced back to rising marital instability. Nine out of every ten of these chil- dren live with their mother, and 44 percent of these female-headed families are poor.22 Policies are needed then to protect women and children from the financial consequences of divorce. Most women who have devoted them- selves to a homemaking career will not be able to earn enough to sup- port their families. The least fortunate may be forced to turn to public assistance, while the more fortunate may receive help from relatives or from their former husbands. But such support is not always forthcom- ing and it may be small in amount. Based on new data from a national probability sample. we estimate that about 40 percent of the divorced~ separated, and single women eli- gible to receive child support or alimony from the fathers of their children never receive such assistance. In addition, those who have ex- perienced a history of some support, often receive payments irregularly or for a limited period of time. Looking at just those women who have received support in a given year, the mean amount of child support and alimony income is about $2,000 per family per year in 1973 dollars. Typically, this amount goes to suppor~t several children and meets about half of the family's sub- sistence (that is, poverty level) needs. In a given year, only about 3 per- cent of all eligible female-headed families receive enough in child sup- port and alimony alone to put them above the official poverty level for a family of their size and composition.23 Many women who have chosen to be full-time homemakers believe that divorce is unlikely (or always happens to someone else) and that 20 Carolyn Shaw Bell, "Should Every Job Support a Family," The Public Interest, No. 40 (summer 1975). "Heather L. Ross and Isabel V. Sawhill, "Time of Transition: The Growth of Families Headed by Women" (Washington, D.C.: The Urban Institute, 1975). 22 "Marital Status and Living Arrangements: March 1975," Current Population Reports, Series P-20, No. 287 (Washington, D.C.: U.S. Department of Commerce, Bureau of the Census, December 1975). "Household Money Income In 1974 and Selected Social cud Economic Characteristics of Households." Current Population Reports, P-GO. No. 100 (Washington, D.C.: U.S. Department of Commerce, Bureau of the Census, 1975). 23 Carol A. Jones, Nancy M. Gordon, and Isabel V. Sawhill, "Child Support Payments in the United States" (Washington, U.C. : The Urban Institute, Oct. 1, 1976). PAGENO="0062" 54 when it does occur, child support or alimony will be paid. The facts cited here suggest that the risks are higher ~tlian commonly believed. As in the case of social security benefits, there may be a need'to develop new pol~icies and mechanisms which insure that homenmkers receive their fair share of the return on an earlier investment in marriage and a husband's career. In principle, life insurance, social security, and ali- mony or child support all help to protect the homemaker from the "un- employment" which divorce or death are likely to bring. Perhaps in the future, husbands who have homemaking wives will be asked to contribute to State unemployment compensation funds as well. Combined with education~ retraining, counselling, and other services for the displaced homemaker, such protection could be a valuable buf- fer against the poverty faced by many female-headed families. Not all women who head families are the victims of a death or a divorce. Many are younger women whose economic plight is the conse- quence of unwanted childbearing at an early age. In general, younger women who have not yet decided whether to be homemakers, to have careers, or to combine both, face a very different set of circumstances than older women and their situation calls for a different kind of policy response. D. Creating Options for Younger Women Although traditional roles and occupations are not to be disparaged if freely chosen, we know that young women often enter them with little preparation, and with almost no knowledge of the alternatives or of the consequences of their decisions. Far more easily than in the past, young women can choose a variety of lifestyles. They have greater freedom to engage in sexual activity before marriage; they also can continue their education to relatively advanced levels. They have more control over the size of their families and a much wider range of occupational choices. If they seize on some of these new opportunities, new options will be created for men as well. But with these new options come the need to make harder decisions about sex. marriage, childbear- ing, and careers, and to have better information about the consequences of various choices. Educators, the research community, Government agencies and others have special responsibility to make sure tha.t the choices are both available and their implications understood. Further- more, Government programs themselves should be scrutinized with a view to determining whether they bias people's decisions in particular directions and whether these biases are desirable. A young woman, for example, who receives a Government subsidy if she has a child out of wedlock but not if she marries, or has an abortion, faces what most people would consider an inappropriate set of incentives. In general, the point is that one's life chances are often determined, or at least severely constrained, by decisions and events occurring at an early age. One of the most critical events in the life of a young woman is the birth of her first child. Depending on when and under what circumstances this birth occurs, she may drop out of school, leave the labor force, go on welfare, or abandon a career. Because we believe these consequences are important, we are taking a close look at this whole area in research currently underway at the Urban Institute. Some useful information has already been compiled PAGENO="0063" 55 by Kristin Moore and Steven Caldwell. One of their ftudings is that adolescent sexual activity is on the rise. Whereas about 64 percent of females born in 1950 engaged in sexual intercourse before age 20, 90 percent of those born in 1962 are expected to do so.24 Unless offset by the increased availability and utilization of contraception and abor- tion, this will lead to more adolescent pregnancy and childbearing, much of it out of wedlock, with possible adverse consequences for the mothers, their children, and society. For example, pregnancy is the most frequent single reason that girls drop out of school. Data for 1972 indicate that 80 percent of the school-age girls who become preg- nant leave school and never return to formal education. Although title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 forbids schools re- ceiving Federal money from excluding pregnant students, the heavy financial and personal demands of child care often result in school- age mothers never completing their education. Naturally, the lack of education reduces the mother's earning potential and leads to greater welfare dependency. According to our best estimates, at least 60 percent of the children born out of wedlock between 1954 and 1972 and not given up for adoption were on AFDC (aid to families with dependent children) in 1973.25 Contraceptive use among young and unmarried people is distress- ingly inadequate. Among teenagers surveyed in a 1971 study, fewer than half used a contraceptive the last time that they had sex.26 Per- haps the recent Supreme Court decision that nñnors do not need paren- tal consent to obtain contraceptives will change this situation. Our research does indicate that the availability of subsidized family planning services reduces the number of premarital pregnancies.27 Un- fortunately, only about 40 percent of the U.S. women estimated to be in need of subsidized family planning services actually obtained them in 1974.28 All this implies that the public and policymakers need to acknowl- edge that teenagers are sexually active and in need of birth control services. Given the inadequate use of contraception, legal abortion may represent the best available option open to a woman with an unwanted pregnancy. For low-income women, financing of such abor- tions through medicaid is essential. Recent court rulings suggesting that such financial assistance is their constitutional right are a welcome antidote to congressional backsliding in this important area. Family planning and abortion are important not only because of their direct effects in preventing unwanted childbearing and its im- mediate consequences, but also because they preserve so many othef options. Economic independence for a young woman means a chance to delay childbearing until she has acquired sufficient education and experience to make an informed and conscious choice and has the resources to support a child either with or without the help of a male a~ Kristin A. Moore and Steven B. Caidwell, "Out-of-Wedlock Pregnancy and Childbear- ing" (Washington, D.C.: The Urban Institute, September 1970). 25 Ibid. 26 John Kantner and Melvin Zelnick, "Sexual Experience of Young Unmarried Women in the United States," Family Planning Perspectives, vol. 4, No. 4 (October 1972), p. 8. ~ Moore and Caidwell, op. cit. Alan Gutmacher Institute, New York, N.Y. PAGENO="0064" 56 partner. It also means the right to know about the pros and cons of other alternatives, including careers in areas not open to women in the past. Whether such alternatives are available depends, in part, on the success of the employment policies discussed earlier. In this sense, we have now come full circle. III. CONCLUSIONS Without job opportunities, everyone's options are limited. As I write this concluding section, the overall unemployment rate is hovering around 7 percent. This is not a full employment economy by anyone's definition. We have seen that in the absence of a strong recovery we can expect a slower rate of female entry into the labor force in the future and continued high unemployment rates for both men and women as they compete for a limited number of jobs. I can think of only two reasons for accepting these consequences. One is fear of inflation; but this is more an argument for developing selective employment policies than for doing nothing at all. The crea- tive design and implementation of such policies should be high on the public agenda. A second reason for tolerance of high rates of unemployment may stem from assumptions about the welfare implications of this unem- ployment. People do not view the unemployment of a~ married woman in as serious a light as the unemployment of a male bread- winner, or the plight of a teenager unable to find his or her first job as equivalent to that of an experienced worker who has lost a job. I do not believe we know as much about these welfare implications as most people assume. We do not have very good data on the income available to the unemployed, nor is income the only measure of hard- ship or of longer term debilitating effects, some of which are non- economic in nature. The result has been a tendency to look at unem- ployment rates by demographic categories and to assume that these categories provide good proxies for economic need. The discussion would be more useful if we had a better understanding of why some groups have higher unemployment rates than others and of the serious- ness of these various types of unemployment for human welfare. Finally, whatever their effects on the distribution of income and welfare, high unemployment rates and the discouragement of labor force participation which accompanies them, imply a loss of real output to the economy, with a corresponding reduction in the standard of living. Many women, especially, are underemployed within the home. They have some valuable domestic tasks to perform, but these tasks may not fully occupy their time or energies once their children are grown or in school. If there were more jobs a.vailable-especiallv jobs with flexible schedules-many of these women would work. No one knows the exact size of this pool of available resources. The women involved do not get picked up in the unemployment statistics, but they are underemployed. Such hidden underemployment represents a lost opportunity and thus imposes a burden on our entire society. We can conclude that a full employment economy would make a.va~l- able more JObS ~or women, with a corresponding higher standard of living for all Americans. PAGENO="0065" 57 BIBLIoGRAPHY Bell, Carolyn Shaw, "Should Every Job Support a Family?" The Public Interest, No. 40 (Summer 1975). Bergmann, Barbara R., "Reducing the Pervasiveness of Discrimination," in Jobs for Americans, Eli Ginzberg, ed. (Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice-Hall, 1976). Bowman, C. T., and T. H. Morland, "Revised Projections of the U.S. Economy to 1980 and 1985," Monthly Labor Review, Vol. 99 (March 1976), pp. 9-21. Brenner, M. 1-larvey, "Estimating the Social Costs of National Economic Policy; Implications for Mental and Physical I-lealth, and Criminal Aggression" (Washington, D.C.: TJ.S. Congress, Joint Economic Committee, 1976). Campbell, Angus, Philip E. Converse, and Willard L. Rodgers, "The Quality of American Life: Perceptions, Evaluations, and Satisfactions" (New York: Rus- sell Sage Foundation, 1976). Glick, Paul, and Arthur Norton, "Perspectives on the Recent Upturn in Divorce and Remarriage," Demography, Vol. 10, No. 3 (August 1973). Hayge, Howard, "Families and the Rise of Working Wives-An Overview," Special Labor Force Report 189 (Washington D.C.: U.S. Department of Labor Bureau of Labor Statistics, 1976). Johnson, D. F., "The U.S. Labor Force: Projections to 1990," Special Labor Force Report 156 (Washington, D.C.: U.S. Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics, 1973). Jones, Carol A., Nancy M. Gordon, and Isabel V. Sawhill, "Child Support Pay- ments in the United States" (Washington, D.C.: The Urban Institute, Oct. 1, 1976). Kantner, John, and Melvin Zelnik, "Sexual Experience of Young Unmarried Women in time United States," Family Planning Perspectives, Vol. 4, No. 4 (October 1972), p. 8. Kreps, Juanita M., "Some Time Dimensions of Manpower Policy," in Jobs for Americans, Eli Ginzberg, ed. (Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice-Hall, 1976). Mason, Karen Oppenheim, John Czojka, and Sara Arber, "Change in U.S. Wom- en's Sex-Role Attitudes, 1964-74" (University of Michigan, August 1975). Moore, Kristin A., and Steven B. Caldwell, "Out-of-Wedlock Pregnancy and Child- bearing" (Washington, D.C.: The Urban Institute, September 1976). Ross, Heather, and Isabel V. Sawhill, "Time of Transition: The Growth of Families Headed by Women" (Washington, D.C.: The Urban Institute, 1975). Smith, Ralph E., "The Impact of Macroeconomic Conditions on Employment Opportunities for Women," prepared for the U.S. Congress, Joint Economic Committee, Series on "Achieving the Goals of the Employment Act of 1946-~30th Anniversary Review" (Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office, Jan. 3, 1977). Smith, Ralph E., "Unemployment and Labor Force Growth" (Washington, D.C.: Urban Institute, October 1976). Taeuber, Karl E., and James A. Sweet, "Family and Work: The Social Life Cycle of Women," in Women and the American Economy, Juanita M. Kreps, ed. (Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice-I-Iall, Inc., 1976). U.S. Commission on Civil Rights, "Last Hired, First Fired: Layoffs and Civil Rights," draft report (October 1976). U.S. Department of Commerce, Bureau of the Census, "Household Money Income in 1974 and Selected Social and Economic Characteristics of Households," Cur- rent Population Reports, P-20, No. 100 (Washington, D.C.: Government Print- ing Office, 1975) ; and "Marital Status and Living Arrangements: March 1975," Current Population Reports, Series P-20, No. 287 (Washington, D.C.: Govern- ment Printing Office, 1975). 91-GSG----77------5 PAGENO="0066" PAGENO="0067" Part II. OVERCOMING BARRIERS (59) PAGENO="0068" PAGENO="0069" THE LEGAL ROAD TO EQUAL EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITY: A CRITICAL VIEW Br MARY C. DUNLAP * CONTENTS Page I. Sex discrimination in employment goes to court 62 A. The Supreme Court's role: Long rather silent and now spoken 63 B. Federal district and circuit courts: A critical look at title Vii's application to sex discrimination cases 66 II. In fulfillment of the title VII mandate: A proposal for improvement__ 70 A. Need for administrative resources 70 B. Need for counsel 71 C. Need for judicial resources 72 D. Need for change in judicial appointments policies 72 This article has a single aim: it proposes to assess the extent to which the Federal courts have implemented title VII of the Civil Rights Act, as applied to sex-based discrimination in employment, and through a critical eye it seeks to recommend ways by which the Na- tion may be brought `closer to affording and enjoying equal employ- ment opportunity without regard to sex. Only the most uninformed or partisan observer of Federal legal developments in the area of employment discrimination over the past 10 years would venture to term the entire process either a stunning success or an abysmal failure. Instead, an accurate description of the outcomes of this process, centering upon legally initiated change in the direction of equal employment opportunity, must range the spectrum between these extreme characterizations of success and fail- ure. We must look to the hazy middle, where the realities-landmark judicial decisions concerning discrimination in employment; thousands of discrimination claimants without the means of bringing their cases to court; overburdened bureaucracies charged with policing affirma- tive action; responsive institutions and recalcitrant ones-play across a screen of evaluative description. At the center of our screen stand certain persistent patterns: Women workers remain disparately undercompensated, underutilized and underemployed. Simultaneously, a greater and greater percentage of women are seeking to join the labor force, and an increasing number of women work for necessities. Ethnic minority women continue to face double discrimination, resulting in the intensification of patterns of discrimination for these women workers. Changes wrought `by anti- discrimination laws are virtually invisible in comparative studies of the gross statistical measures of sex-based discrimination. Attorney and teacher employed by Ermal Rights Advocates, Inc.. in San Francisco, Calif. A plaintiffs' counsel in several title VII cases, challenging a variety of employment practices for sex and racial discriminal ion. (61) PAGENO="0070" 62 Yet it is the view of this author that the consequences of anti- ~discrimination laws in general, and of title VII of the U.S. Civil Rights Act of 1964 in particular, have been formidable. Title VII phenomena will be the focus of this article's descriptive section, be- ~cause these phenomena are so highly relevant to the issue: where does the female worker stand in the U.S. economy in 1976~ insofar as her congressionally created legal right to be free from sex-based discrimination in employment is concerned? I. SEX DIscRIMINATIoN IN EMPLOYMENT GOES TO COURT Discrimination on account of sex appears in myriad forms, from overt exclusion of women from particular types of work and manage- ment levels, through somewhat subtler deprivations of equal oppor- tunity purportedly or actually connected to pregnancy, child rearing, "averages" of size, strength and physical ability, and norms of pre- employment experience and conditioning, to employer retaliation against activist women who object to discrimination in employment. The vast majority of female white-collar workers are tracked into office and clerical work, and the vast majority of female blue-collar workers are tracked into the lowest paid and least responsible posi- tions, often as unskilled laborers. After more than a decade of title VII litigation involving sex discrimination in employment, these pat- terns of stratification, underutilization and disparate compensation remain generally unchanged in the Nation's workforce.1 One factor to `be considered in any explanation of the great clis- tance between the antidiscriminatory theory of title VII and socio- economic reality for women workers consists of the actual results of title VII litigation involving sex-based discrimination. Let us take, for example, the frequency of class relief in discrimination cases brought under title VII. Case decisions reported 2 for the years 1965 through mid-1975 indicate that in only 13 percent of all sex discrimina- tion cases have courts ordered any class relief, to wit, injunctions benefiting groups of workers, back pay awards to groups, and related remedies. (See table 1, below.) By contrast, 24 percent of all race- discrimination cases reported ~ for this period resulted in court- ordered relief to classes. Nor has the rate of court-ordered class relief shown an increase in recent years, in either race or sex discrimination cases. (See table 1, below.) Awards of class relief may well be the most accurate quantifiable indicator of the applied strength of title VII in the courts. This is because class relief is supposed to `be awarded under title VII when- ever a policy or practice of an employer, employment agency or labor organization has harmed a protected group by discrimination, necessi- tating relief to the class to make it whole. Reality differs sharply from this principle: class relief has been hard-won under title VII, and it is not frequent. 1 "A Statistical Portrait of women in the United States," Current Population Report, Series P-23, No. 58, PP. 26-46 (U.S. Department of Commerce, Bureau of the Census, April 1976). 2 Volumes 1 through 9 of Commerce Clearinghouse's "Employment Practices Decisions" constitute the data base of tables 1 and 2 of this article. There is no publication that reports all title VII decisions. See footnote 2, supra. PAGENO="0071" 63 Table 1 illustrates this proportion about the relative infrequency of court-ordered class relief in sex discrimination cases, and about the general infrequency of class relief in both race and sex discrimination cases. TABLE 1.-A DECADE OF TITLE VII LITIGATION: CLASS RELIEF 1 WON BY COURT ORDER 2 By type o f case By sex of plaintiff(s) Plaintiff(s) Plaintiff(s) male female Race discrimi- nation cases Sex discrimi- nation cases Num- Per- Period of decisions 3 ber cent Num- Per- ber cent Num- Per- ber cent Num- Per- ber cent 1965to early 1968 11 20 1 6 11 22 1 5 Mid 1968 to early 1970 20 31 3 12 16 31 3 12 Mid 1970 to mid 1971 14 30 4 24 15 31 3 19 Late 1971 to mid-1972 13 27 1 4 14 36 1 3 Late 1972 to mid-1973 11 20 6 18 13 24 4 11 Late l973toendof 1973 20 39 3 12 20 42 3 10 End of 1973 to mid-1974 8 17 8 19 8 20 8 17 Mid-1974 to late 1974 6 10 3 7 7 14 2 4 End of 1974 to mid-1975 8 25 6 14 8 22 6 16 Overall: 1965 to mid-1975 111 24 35 13 112 27 31 10 I `Class relief" quantified in table 1 includes every order containing an award of back pay to a group, or injunctive relief to a group, or goals and/or timetables or any combination of these remedies. 42 U.S.C., sec. 2000e-5(g) governs dis- pensation of these remedies. 2 Because settlements made prior to trial are only reported on a sporadic basis, these figures cannot and do not include settlements made prior to trial. It must be emphasized that most title VII cases do not go to triol; the adequacy and effec- tiveness of consent decrees in sex discrimination cases is a subject worthy of thorough and separate review. 3These dates in table 1 roughlycorrespondtothe decisionmaking periodsencompassed byvol. lthrough9.Seefootnote 2, supra. Perhaps in the first decade of title VII cases, Federal judges pri- marily have been engaged in defining "sex-based discrimination in employment," rather than in remedying it. It does seem that the first 10 years of this type of litigation have been absorbed in laying the basic boundaries of judicial interpretation of title VII where claims of sex-based discrimination in employment have been at issue. To assess the futuristic utility of title VII litigation as a means of a~hiev- ing equal economic opportunity for women, an examination of these basic judicially laid boundaries and their legal and societal signif- icance is required. In this assessment, let us begin with the first decade of title VII decisions by the U.S. Supreme Court. A. The Supreme Court's Role: Long Rather Silent and Now Spoken While deciding numerous cases concerning racial discrimination claims under title VII between 1965 and 1975, until 1976 the U.S. Supreme Court had offered its views in but one case concerning a sex discrimination claim under title VII, entitled Phillips v. Martin- Marietta Corp., 400 U.S. 542 (1971) .~ The title VII race discrimina- tion decisions of the Supreme Court cover a wide array of significant issues, such as: When will a prima fade neutral employment practice be found to violate title VII's prohibition against racial discrimina- tion? ° What must an individual denied employment show to prove 4 Phillips was decided in a per curiam opinion, remanding the case for a determination of the validity of the employer's claim that sex was a "bona fide occupational qualifica- tion" (b.foq.) justifying exclusion of mothers of preschool children from its employ. Justice Thurgood Marshal] wrote a concurring opinion, which endorsed a narrow view of the "b.f.o.q," exemption in Phillips. Griggs v. Duke Power Co., 401 U.S. 424 (1971). PAGENO="0072" 64 race discrimination? ~ When must back pay be awarded in title VII race cases? ~ Will an arbitrator's decision bar a race claim under title VII? 8 When may or must a court order an award of retroactive senior- ity to a class of minority persons under title VII? ° What is the rela- tionship of title Vii's 1972 amendments to the Federal employment system? 10 Toward the end of the first decade of title VII sex discrimination cases presented to the Supreme Court, a group of cases" reached the Court, culminating in the decision of General Electric Go. v. Gilbert. 45 TJ.S.L.W. 4031 (12/7/76) (hereinbelow, "GE v. Gilbert"). This group of cases raised essential1y~ one issue: Does an employer's exclu- sion of its employees' disabilities arising from pregnancy, from the benefits of its disability insurance or sick pay progTam, constitute sex discrimination in violation of title VII? By a 6-3 majority, the Court in GE v. Gilbert held that General Electric's exclusion of pregnancy- related disabilities from its disability compensation scheme did not violate title VII, upon the reasoning that this exclusion does not discriminate against women, either overtly or in effect. in a dissenting opinion, Justice John Paul Stevens observed in pertinent part: [Tihe rule at issue places the risk of absence caused by pregnancy in a class by itself [footnote omitted] . . . By definition, such a rule discriminates on account of sex; for it is the capacity to become pregnant which primarily differentiates the female from the male. 45 ILS.L.W. at 4041. Also in dissent, Justices William Brennan and Thur ood Marshal] noted that, in order to reach its result, the majority had Pusled aside the reasoning of six U.S. courts of appeals and of the Equal Employ- ment.Opportunity Commission (E.E.O.C.) aiid that the majority had "studiously ignore[d]" those parts of the factual record in GE v. Gilbert that contradicted its conclusion. Id. 45 IJ.S.L.W. at 4037-4039. In order to comprehend the tremendous bearing of Gilbert upon the status of the female worker in the United States, two areas of the case's impact must be explored. The first area is specific to the central issue raised by the case-now that pregnancy and childbearing may provide legally respected bases for differential treatment of the female employee, whether because of the cost of equal treatment. because of the notion that pregnancy is a personal or family choice for which employers or male employees should not have to bear expenses, or for any other reason, a great loophole has been built into the founda- tion of title VII'S prohibition against sex-based discrimination in 0 McDonnell Douglas Corp. v. Green, 411 11.5. 807 (1973). 7Aibeniarle Paper Co. v. Moody, 422 11.5. 405 (1975). 0Alexanderv. Gardner-Denver Co., 41511.5.36 (1974). 0Franks v. Bowman Transportation Co., 44 IJ.S.L.W. 4356 (1976). 10 Chandler v. Roudehush, 44 U.S.L.W. 4709 (1976) ; Brown v. General Services Admin- istration, 44 TT.S.L.W. 4704 (1976). ~ GE v. Gilbert, discussed infra; American Telephone f Telegraph Co. v. Communication Workers of America, docket No. 74-1601, 44 ILS.L.W. 3067; Lake Oswego School District v. Hutchison, docket No. 75-568, 44 U.S.L.W. 3285; L4berty Mutual Insurance Co. v. Wetcel, remanded on procedural ground, 44 U.S.L.W. 4350 (1976) : 2caslivi!le Gas Co. v. Satty, docket No. 75-536, 44 IJ.S.L.W. 3254; Richmond Unified School District v. Berg, docket No. 75-1069, 44 11.S.L.W. 3459. After deciding GE v. Gilbert, the Supreme Court granted certiorari to review the decisions in Satty and Berg, supra. which involve issues of compulsory pregnancy leave and of employers' refusals to permit disabled pregnant employees to draw accrued sick leave benefits. 45 U.S.L.W. 3508 (Jan. 25. 1977). Thus, the full implications of GE v. Gilbert for other claims of sex-based discrimination in the pregnancy context presently remain unresolved. PAGENO="0073" 65 employment. Pregnancy and childbearing historically have generated, or served to rationalize, a host of discriminatory policies and attitudes that burden the female worker.12 Indeed, one of the deepest roots of sex discrimination is planted he.re: Since some women (and no men) become mothers, all women (and no men) may be reasonably viewed as temporary, economically unreliable and even whimsical partici- pants in the world of nonclomestic work; they are worthwhile as workers only until pregnancy (or even, only until marriage); the costs of equal training, promotions, and other employer investments are therefore wasted on them. It is sensible to observe that this disparaging socioeconomic per- spective upon the role of the female worker in this country's economy, given the force of law in the context of the Supreme Court's deter- mination in GE v. Gilbert as to what constitutes sex discrimination under title VII, threatens to reverse every advance in the struggle of millions of women workers for equal employment opportunity through law. To give employers the legal option of minimizing the costs of their operations, on the circular ground that pregnancy renders all women a risky or expensive labor resource, legally reen- franchises and reinforces the cycle of economic instability arising from employment discrimination against women. If the Court had rejected the invitation offered by the employer in GE v. Gilbert, and if the Court had refused to return ~yomen to a legal position of presumed unreliability in the work force, then future uses of title VII would offer strength in the process of uprooting sex dis- crimination in employment of a magnitude comparable to title Vii's strength in the process of uprooting racial discrimination in employ- ment.13 If Gilbert had been decided in favor of those discriminated against, lower courts that have waffled or wavered from the straight- forward purpose of title VII in sex discrimination cases would have received an unambiguous prescription and direction from the Supreme Court: Sex discrimination in employment can no more be legally de- fended by arguments about the expensiveness or hazardousness of af- fording equal opportunity than can racial discrimination in employ~ ment. Under GE v. Gilbert, the lower courts have received no such direction. Examination of the second area of impact of Gilbert, closely related to the first, assures that the importance of the Supreme Court's decision in Gilbert has not been overstated so far. In Gilbert, the Supreme Court was called upon to determine whether the action of the Equal Employ- ment Opportunity Commission, in promulgating a strong, decisive guideline mandating equal treatment of pregnancy-related disabilities by employers, should be given great deference by the Federal courts. 12 A thorough account of the multiform nature of pregnancy-based discrimination against women was rendered to the Court in the brief amid curiae of National Organization of Women et al. on behalf of petitioner in the case of I~iberty Mutual Insurance Co. v. Wetzel. see footnote 13, supra, in 1975. `~ This article contains several references to the stringently anticliscriminatory inter- pretations of title VII made by courts deciding race discrimination cases. These refer- ences go to decisions such as those cited in footnotes 7-11, supra. The author surely does not seek to imply by these references that all courts at all times have followed those strict principles in race discrimination cases, but only that those strict principles have received considerable articulation in judicial precedents, including a line of Supreme Court decisions in title VII cases. This line of decisions has been menaced by the shadow of Washington v. Davis, 44 TJ.S.L.W. 4789 (1976), but the basic rule of Griggs v. Duke Power Co. (see footnote 7, supra) still appears to hold a majority upon the Supreme Court. Cf. GE v. Gilbert, 45 U.S.L.W. 4037 (concurring opinions of Blackmun, J. and Stewart, J.). PAGENO="0074" 66 The Supreme Court's declaration that great deference is due to the EEOC's guidelines, presented in its decision of Griggs v. Duke Power Co., 401 U.S. 424 (1971), was tested for the applicability of this prin- ciple to sex discrimination cases in GE v. Gilbert. Now that the Su- preme Court has invalidated the EEOC guideline that was at issue in Gilbert, the authority of other guidelines of the EEOC as to sex dis- criminati on-guidelines that condemn sex stereotyping, narrow the "b.f.o.q." (bona fide occupational qualification) exception, prohibit marital status-related sex discrimination, and so forth `4-has been severely undercut. The necessary generality of the language of title VII itself, which provides little, if any, particularized guidance to courts in the process of defining discrimination, often has been given specific meaning in sex dscrimination cases through judicial respect for and application of these EEOC guidelines. Yet the majority opinion in GE v. Gilbert points courts away from these guidelines, leaving Federal judges (and employers, employment agencies and labor organizations governed by title VII) with the highly troublesome historical standard of equity, to wit., "the length of their own feet," by which to determine what con- stitutes sex discrimination in employment. Worse, the majority opinion points judges deciding sex discrimina- tion cases under title VII into a labyrinth: Under GE v. Gilbert, these judges are instructed to look to equal protection decisions in order to ascertain what constitutes unlawful discrimination on account of sex, under 42 U.S.C. 2000e at seq. Since the Supreme Court's equal pro- tection decisions concerning sex discrimination have been so marked by expediency, weakness, and lack of commitment to the principle of legal equality, a great majority of Federal legislators in 1972 saw the need for passage of the equal rights amendment to the U.S. Constitution. The court majority's gesture in GE v. Gilbert toward equal protection decisions as a touchstone for defining sex discrimination in employment must be viewed as a predominantly political and nonlegal message to Federal judges. This unsubtle signal reads: "If you want to find your way through (around) the forest of title VII cases, go lose yourselves in the thicket of equal protection precedents." 15 B. Federal District and Circuit Courts: A Critical Look at Title Vii's Application to Sex Discrimination Cases The crucial implications of the Supreme Court's decision in Gil- bert must not be permitted to overshadow a full assessment of lower court dispositions of sex discrimination cases litigated under title VII during the past decade. For it is Federal district and appellate court decisions that chiefly have written the chapters concerning sex dis- crimination in the book of title VII, since 1965. Generally, where employment discrimination on account of sex has appeared to these courts in the form of expressly exclusionary poll- `4The EEOC's "Guidelines on Discrimination Because of Sex' are published at 20 CFR sec. [004.01 et seq. (1972). `5 Specifically, prior to the passage of title VII in 1964, the Supreme Court had not determined that any of the Instances of sex discrimination against women in the employ- ment sphere which were presented to it violated the U.S. Constitution. Bradweli v. Illinois, 83 U.S. (16 Wall.) 130 (1873) ; Miller v. Oregon, 208 U.S. 412, 28 S. Ct. 324. 52 D. Ed. 551 (1908) ; Goesart v. Cleary, 335 U.S. 464, 69 5. Ct. 198, 93 L. Ed. 103 (1948). PAGENO="0075" 67 cies-e.g. Leah Rosenfeld and other women shall not be agent-teleg- raphers for Southern Pacific because most women are physically in- capable of performing this job 28; Celio Diaz and other men shall not. be flight attendants for Pan Am because customers prefer women such policies have been found to violate title VII. Likewise, where employment discrimination on account of sex has appeared to these courts in the form of overt reliance upon expressly sex-discriminatory State laws, title VII has been held to have been violated.18 Subtler, more implicit and more individualized forms of sex dis- crimination in employment, as well as situations in which the proof of discrimination derives from statistical demonstrations of dis- parate treatment of women, have received far more uneven treatment by Federal courts. While plaintiffs in sex discrimination cases con- sistently rely upon the strict rules that have been developed in race discrimination cases under title VII, courts do not necessarily follow. A few major examples should suffice to illustrate this overall pattern of judicial ambivalence toward nonobvious sex discrimination cases. In a rare title VII decision ordering affirmative action in hiring and promotion on behalf of a class of female employees, the district court made findings that the employer's discrimination against wom- en had been conscious, and that it had resulted in total exclusion of women from particular jobs.1° In 1976, the court of appeals vacated this trial court's order of goals and timetables for hiring and promo- tion of women, declaring that the trial court had not specifically found that enough women were qualified to justify the goals, and further proposing that there are differences between sex discrimina- tion and race discrimination under title VII, such that: precedents from one area may not be freely interchangeable with those of the other. Ostapowicz v. Johnson Bronze Co., 12 E.P.D. ¶11, 166 (3rd Cir. 1976). The reasoning of the court of appeals in Ostapowiez is tautological, in that it does not say why this case should not be governed by race discrimination precedents. But, more important, for purposes of this inquiry, is the candor of this appellate court about its view of title VII as applied to sex discrimination. Relative to comparable race discrimination cases involving discrim- ination in hiring, placement and promotions, the plaintiff females' case in Ostapowic~ was compelling and strongly proved, by both quantitative and qualitative evidence.20 Missing, at the level of the court of appeals that vacated the order of goals in Ostapowicz, was a sense of the absolute priority of eliminating sex discrimination in employment that courts of appeals have repeatedly 21 recognized in race discrimination cases. In another recent and illustrative decision, a district court was presented with statistical showings that the State of Wisconsin had distributed merit and incentive pay in a manner that greatly dis- 16 Rosenfeld v. Sout hera Pacific Go., 444 F. 2c1 1219 (9th dr. 1971). 17 Diaz v. Pan American Airways, 442 F. 2d 385 (5th dir. 1971). 18 See, for example, LeBlanc v. Southern Bell Tel. ci Tel. Go., 333 F. Supp. 002 (ED. La., 1971) ; Hays v. Potlatch Forests, Inc., 405 F. 2d 1081 (8th dir. 1972) ; Krause v. Sacramento Inn, 479 F. 2d 988 (9th dir. 1973). 19 Ostapowicz v. Johnson Bronze Go., 309 F. Supp. 522 (D. Pa. 1973). 20 compare, for example, Rios v. Local 638, 320 F. Supp. 198 (S.D.N.Y. 1971) ; Rowe V. General Motors Corp., 457 F. 2d 348 (5th dIr. 1972). ~` See footnotes 7-12 and 15, supra. PAGENO="0076" 68 favored female employees. Despite the strength of the numerical showings of present discrimination against women employees by the State, the district court granted summary judgment to the State, holding that the plaintiffs must prove, and had not proved, that the State overtly had discriminated against women in the past. Wisconsin N.O.TV. v. State of Wisconsin-F. Supp.-12 E.P.D. ¶11, 140 (W. D. 1,~Tis 1976). From these and other similar decisions in sex discrimination cases.22 it is fair to conclude that judicial standards governing disposition of sex discrimination cases have diverged substantially from standards developed in race discrimination cases under title VII. At least one other 1976 decision brings this reality about judicial treatment of sex discrimination cases out into the open. In Cramer v. Virginia Commonwealth University,-F. Supp.-, 12 E.P.D. ¶ 10~968 (E.D. Va. 1976), the plaintiff was a male who sued under title VII because he had been denied employment as a professor because of his sex. The University's defense 23 claimed that it had hired two equally qualified women pursuant to an affirmative action program. Despite. the plaintiff male's concession that the University had no improper motive in its action 24 and despite his failure to prove that his qualifications ex- ceeded those of the women hired, the district court held in his favor, and declared that affirmative action "only perpetuates discrimination." By contrast, women who have brought title VII claims against univer- sities and colleges for sex discrimination in academic hiring have al- most universally seen their claims rejected,25 no matter how strong, on theories such as the subjective sensitivity of decisiomualdng in aca- demic hiring,26 and even upon the women's inability to show conscious or overt bias against them.21 In short, whereas women have won virtu- ally nothing in the academic discrimination arena through title VII, because of the express willingness of courts to give extraordinary de- ference to academic decisionmakers where women candidates have been rejected or passed over, the plaintiff male in the Commonwealth Uni- versity case readily won, without having to meet the heavy burden of proof of discrimination laid down in title VII cases brought by women in academe. This author urges that part of the answer to the question, "Why has title VII not been consistently applied to all types of discrimination made unlawful by this statute?" lies in the matter of militancy, and in the prevalence among many judges of a different gut feelmg about sex discrimination than these judges have, or at least display, about ~ See. for example. Cansey v. Ford Motor Co., 382 F. Supp. 1221 (M.D. Fin. 10741. reversed in part, 516 F. 2d 416 (5th Cir. 1075) Jnrinho v. Wiegand Co., 407 F. 2d 403 (3d Cir. 1974). ~ it should he emphasized that colleges and universities generally, which have widely resisted affirmative action, certainly are not the best defenders of such programs when challenged by white males such as plaintiff Cramer. 24 Of course, the university's motive Is not dispositive: an employer in good faith may still violate title VII. But the discrepancy between judicial treatment of this auestion in Cr'ner and in cases brought by women is noteworthy. See cases cited in footnotes 28 and 29, infra. 25 The chief exception to this pattern of denials of redress apnears in the granting of a preliminary injunction to a female professor bringing a title VII sex discrimination case in Tolinson. v. University of Pittsburgh, 359 F. Supp. 1002 (W.D. Pa. 1973). This case is still in trial, as of 1976. ~° See Fare v. New Yorh University, 502 F. 2d 1229 (2d Cir. 19741 : Green v. Boarr7 of Regents of Texas Tech Univ., 335 F. Supp. 249 (ND. Tex. 1071), affirmed 474 F. 2d 504 (5th Cir. 1973) Sime v. Board of Trustees, 526 F. 2d 1112 (9th Cir. 197~). 27 See cases cited in footnote 28, supra. PAGENO="0077" 69 racial discrimination. Women are not ghetto-ized geographically or residentially. Women have not rioted and died in the streets of the United States, except as members of other groups. Women as women have not been the subjects, objects, and sometimes victims of voter registration drives, bus-burnings or school desegregation battles in and out of Federal courts. To deny that these events and processes concerning racism have had effects on the seriousness with which judges, including bigoted ones, view race discrimination in employ- ment is to pretend that courts are run by machines, and not by human beings. This past seems, in this respect, at the very least a prolog to the obduracy of some courts being called upon to order an end to sex discrimination in employment. The difference in majority judicial attitudes toward sex discrimina- tion vis-a-vis race discrimination is well-illustrated by another set of title VII case developments; namely, decisions concerning the protest- ing worker. Percy Green engaged in unlawful protests, including a lock-in of em- ployees and a stall-in of cars, at a McDonnell Douglas plant. McDon- nell Douglas refused to rehire Mr. Green.28 The court of appeals, in deciding Mr. Green's title VII action for race `discrimination `and re- taliatory treatment, declared: ". . . if McDonnell's refusal to rehire Green rests upon management's personal dislike for Green or personal distaste for his conduct in the civil rights field, Green is entitled to some relief." (4 E.P.D. § 7742 (8th Cir. 1972)). Percy Green's plight then reached the Supreme Court, and the Supreme Court held that Mr. Green must be afforded the opportunity in his title VII litigation to prove that the company's defense, that he was not rehired because of his unlawful protest activities, was a pre- text for racial discrimination against him. Protesting women certainly have not fared as well as Mr. Green in title VII cases, even when it js considered that `he lost upon remand.29 In several cases where female employees have spoken out against dis- crimination (in no case by stalling-in or locking-in) , they have received a rude awakening in bringing their title VII cases. For example, there is Stella Fogg, who began work at New England Telephone in a de- partment where all males were supervisors, and all females were under- lings. Defendants' agents repeatedly told Ms. Fogg that the promotion she sought was to a position that could only be filled by a man.2° The district couit denied Ms Fogg relief, stating in relevant part Mrs. Fogg had a knack for stepping on her supervisors' toes if they got in her way. She was an aggressive, ambitious employee determined to push her way ahead. She went over the heads of her supervisors in Boston ~y writing directly to the President of the Company . . . JJ'ogg v. iY~w England Telephone c~ Tele- graph Co., (5 E.P.D. § 8010 (D.N.H. 1972).) Other title VII decisions that have adopted the legally circular but realistically devastating approach, that the plaintiff was not unlaw- fully discriminated against because she was too aggressive, teach an adcfitional lesson. Some of these decisions, showing an injudicious 2S Grecnv.MeDonflefl Douglas Corp., 463 F. 2d 337 (8th Cir. 1972). "Green v. McDonnell Douglas Corp., 390 F. Supp. 501 (1975). `° Fogg v. New England Bell Telephone ~ Eelegraph Co., 346 F. Supp. 645 (D.N.~E1. 1972). PAGENO="0078" 70 ~preoccupation with what constitutes a desirable personality on the ~part of a female rather than an attention to the issues of law and fact before them, have gone not against women claiming sex discrimina- tion, but, instead, against black women claiming racial discrimination under title VII. See, e.g., Thomas v. J. 0. Penritey, - F.Supp. -, 9 E.P.D. ¶ 10, 130 (P. Tex. 1975) (Ms. Thomas, the first black sales clerk in the Beaumont, Tex., store, was found by the trial court to be "over sensitive, over aggressive in demanding what she considered to be her rights and thus demonstrat[ing] an attitude not conducive to har- mony"); S'irtith v. St. Louis Railway, - F.Supp. -, 10 E.P.D. ¶ 10, 277 (N.D. Ala. 1975). (A plaintiff black female lost her race discrimi- nation claim; the district judge noted that one of the facts against her was that she emphatically believed she had been discriminated against). Thus, the double standard in judicial disposition of title VII cases is not solely explicable in the terms candidly offered by the court of appeals in Ostapowic~, to wit., that proof sufficient in a race discrimina- tion case may be insufficient in a sex discrimination case. The factor of the sex of the plaintiff, whether or not the title VII claim is actually based upon that factor, must be taken into account in understanding why title VII actions involving women often have not resulted in principled outcomes. Emphatically, not all sex discrimination cases brought under title VII have been handled in the fashion demonstrated by the above dis- cussion. A few courts have adamantly refused to apply different stand- ards to sex discrimination cases under title VII than those developed in race discrimination cases.31 However, for purposes of this article, it is sufficient to point out the fact that this double standard has some- times been utilized, and that vindication of legal rights of women workers is therefore a quite chancy venture. If title VII is to become a reliable means of attack upon each of the many kinds of discrimination in employment against women that prevent women from receiving a full share of employment opportu- nities, the causes of this disparity in judicial application of title VII must be found and removed. II. IN FtTLFIIJLMENT OF THE TImE VII IAxr)A'rE: A PROPOSAL FOR IMPROvEMENT There are many changes that need to be made if equal employment opportunity in the United States, without regard to sex, is to become a reality for all persons, and for women in particular. Congress can initiate and sustain prerogatives as to only some of these changes.32 The proposal of this author urges only those changes that Congress, and no other authority, can accomplish. A. Need fo~ Athministrative Resou'ices The year 1976 saw the closing of Government-funded title VII proj- ects across the Nation.33 The problems of the Equal Employment Op- portunity Commission amount to nothing less than a vicious cycle. In- ii See, for example, East V. Romine, Inc., 518 F. 2d 332 (5th Cir. 1975). ~ For example, Congress has done much to commence and catalyze legal change toward nondiscrimination against women by passage of the Equal Rights Amendment. while Congress formally can do little to affect the State ratification process, it must prepare to construct the legislative means of enforcement of the ERA's guarantee. ~ For example, the title VII project of the Lawyer's Committee in San Francisco, Calif., was forced by withdrawal of funds to close in August 1976. Other projects were closed before the end of 1976. PAGENO="0079" 71 adequate resources in the EEOC have led to an inadequate work prod- uct, cited in justification of continuing legislative actions aimed at diminution of financial support to the EEOC. It appears that attor- neys for EEOC and other governmental agencies have not been particularly successful in `litigation where sex discrimination in em- ployment is at issue. Table 2 shows this pattern. TABLE 2--RESULTS OF TITLE VII CASES LITIGATED BY GOVERNMENT ATTORNEY, 1965 TO MID-1975 a Plaintiff(s) Type of case Male Female Race Sex Total number 58 17 62 13 Procedural dismissal 2 granted (percent) 10. 34 64. 71 11. 29 69. 23 Procedural dismissal reversed on appeal (percent) 8.62 5.88 8.06 0 Class certification denied (percent) 1. 72 0 1. 61 0 Class certification denial reversed on appeal 0 0 0 0 Individual relief denied (percent) 5. 17 5. 88 6. 45 0 Class relief denied (percent) 10. 34 5. 88 9. 68 7. 69 Denial of relief reversed on appeal (percent) 18. 97 0 17. 74 0 Class certification granted (percent) 60. 34 0 56. 45 0 Individual backpay granted (Fercent)~__.... 0 5. E8 0 7. 69 Class backpay granted (percent) 10. 34 0 9. 68 0 Individual injunction granted (percent) 0 5.88 0 7.69 Class injunction granted (percent) 63.79 0 59.68 0 Goal and timetables ordered (percent) 20. 69 0 19. 35 0 Settlement with class relief approved (percent) 8. 62 5. 88 8. 06 7. 69 Award of relief reversed on appeal 0 0 0 0 I See footnotes 2 and 6, supra. 2 The category `procedural dismissal" as used herein includes all premeritn dismissals of actions on FRCP rule 12 grounds, except dismissals of parties defendant based upon failure to name them in the EEOC charge. Of course, funding is not necessarily the fall answer to changing the pattern of losses shown in table 2. It is highly likely that the same simple lack of priority of ending sex discrimination that has impaired judicial forces (see section I, above) has rendered the EEOC and other supposed enforcers of legal prohibitions against sex dis- crimination in employment less than adequately dedicated lo this cause. B. Need for Counsel Title VII provides that a court may appoint counsel to claimants of discrimination in appropriate cases. 42 United States Code, section 2000e-5 (f) (1). This judicial power is useless without a budget. The worker who is impoverished by reason of discrimination is usually unable to secure counsel; this group of people, many thousands of whom are women, actually have no rights under title VII until they have lawyers to represent them. Furthermore, even the middle-income claimant often cannot afford the tremendous litigation costs (attor- neys, court reporters, statistical experts, production of documents) necessary to fight against discriminating institutions and corporations. Also, as long as the likelihood of success on the merits of a sex discrim- ination case is made unpredictable by the phenomenon of judicial rein- forcement of discrimination (see section I, above), the discerning law- yer cannot afford to take these important, difficult cases of sex discrimination in employment upon the contingency that attorney's fees might be awarded to him/her under 42 United States Code, section PAGENO="0080" 72 2000e-5 (k). Finally, the amounts of such awards are nothing short of erratic, as much reflecting the variation in judicial dedication to the importance of title VII litigation as reflecting the uniqueness of this casework. C. Need for Judicial Resources Title VII litigation appears to constitute an increasing proportion of the Federal judicial workload. Reactions to this growth have in- cluded efforts to curtail the availability of class actions,'4 to impose new procedural barrjers upon title VII claimants,'5 to restrict certain groups' access under title VII altogether,'6 and even to characterize discriminatory policies and practices as not legally actionable in order to prevent the hypothesized deluge of similar cases.'7 These judicial reactions become the beginning of a vicious cycle, as appellate courts must increasingly bear the escalating responsibility of reviewing such judicially engrafted inhibitions upon the force of title VII. Increases of human and financial resources to the Federal judiciary must be designed by Congress to match the court's title VII workload, if the law is to be enforced. D. Need for Change in Judicial Appointments Policies As a constitutional matter, Congress retains the power and respon- sibility of screening, and of acdepting or rejecting, every appointee to the Federal bench. As a practical matter, this author is informed that these judicial appointments involve big-time wheeling, dealing, trade- offs, 2-for-i's, partisan bargains, and an array of other political stra- tegies, between interested Senators and the President in particular. This progress is objectionable insofar as the focus of this article is concerned because of its result: female and minority candidates are disproportionately excluded from consideration in this process of divvying up the Federal bench. As of 1975, to the best of this author's knowledge, there were five (5) female district judges ançl one (1) female Federal appellate court judge, out of over 600 on the Federal bench. Of these six (6), one was a black female. As four members of the U.S. Supreme Court observed, in.Frontiero v. Richardson in 1973: 38 It is true, of course, that when viewed in the abstract, women do not constitute asmall and powerless minority. Nevertheless, in part because of past disCrimina- tion, women are vastly underrepresented in this Nation's decisionmaking cbun- cils. There has never been a female President, nor a female member of this Court. Not a single woman presently sits in the U.S. Senate, and only 14 women hold seats in the House of Representatives. And, as appellants point out, this under- representation is present throughout all levels of our* State and Federal Government. a~ See, for example, Rich v. Martin-Marietta Corp., 522 F. 2d 333, 341 (10th Cir. 1975). ("If classes were always limited as they were In this case, it would effectively make rule 23 a nullity. It is understandable that hard pressed trial courts would not consider this too unfavorable a result * * ~5 See, for example, McDonald v. General Mills, Inc., 387 F. Supp. 24 (E.D. Calif. 1974), vacated in part, - F. Supp. -, 9 E.P.D. para. 9808 (ED. Cal. 1974). ~° See Hackley V. Johnson, 300 F. Supp. 1247, 1249 (at footnote 2) (D.D.C. 1973), reversed and remanded. 520 F. 2d 108 (D.C. Cir. 1975). ~` See, for example, Miller v. BanP of America, 418 F. Supp. 233, 236 (N.D. Calif. 1976). "* * * it would not be difficult to foresee a Federal challenge based on alleged sex- motivated considerations of the complaintant's supervisor in every case of a lost promo- tion, transfer, demotion, or dismissal * 3 {sjuch being the case, it would seem wise for the courts to refrain from delving into these matters * * `°411 U.S. 677 (1973). PAGENO="0081" 73 Whatever the details of the Federal judicial appointive process may be at any given time, qualified women overwhelmingly have been ex- cluded at all stages. This author proposes that there is one and only one way to achieve full and fair inclusion of women on the Federal bench. Affirmative action, which should be understood as a series of sustained and concrete efforts at every stage toward the goal of a repre- sentative Federal bench, must be engaged in by those legislators having actual authority and influence over judicial appointments. In this regard, a relentlessly hard look must be taken at traditional evaluative sources of candidates, such as the American Bar Association, which is an organization that has only just begun to make efforts to overcome its own profound, systemic sex and racial discrimination. These indis- pensable steps toward overcoming the long history of discrimination against females and minorities in Federal judicial appointments can- not be effectively taken by any group save our Federal legislators. There are few if any valid alternatives to the approach of express congressional intervention to achieve inclusion of women and minority persons in the Federal judiciary. Because jury trials generally are unavailable in title VII actions,39 the litigative option of a jury trial for avoiding a biased Federal judge is essentially foreclosed in these cases; and, of course, the effectiveness of jury trials as a strategy of avoiding bias in court trials turns upon the debatable premise that a number of jurors will be likelier than a given judge to treat a title VII action without sex-based or other classificatory biases of their own. Nor do proceedings to disqualify sexist or racist judges from hearing title VII actions generally offer a feasible alternative for avoiding biased triers, both because of the political delicacy of such proceed- ings 40 and because of the sheer difficulty of proving bias in the event of a refusal by the court to disqualify itself.4' To the extent that judicial prejudice toward women, minorities, and other discriminated-against groups constitutes a psychologically deep- rooted phenomenon, surely the approach of affirmative action in judi- cial appointments can be criticized for its nonresponsiveness to some of those dimensions. The strongest of such criticisms is that those Fed- eral judges already appointed will at best be encouraged indirectly to reconsider their biases, through contact with female and minority judges, and that even this ameliorative effect is neither certain 42 nor controllable. As a related matter, the extraordinary and paradoxical ~ ~ Cwrtis v. Loather, 415 U.S. 189 (1974) ; but see AThemarle Paper Co. v. Moody, cited at footnote 9, supra. (dissenting opinion of Rehnquist, J.). 40 The author believes that a motion to disqualify a Federal judge on the ground of bias is almost universally unwelcome, not only to the judge concerned, but to those who would have to hear that judge's title VII docket if bias were admitted. 41 If a judge refuses to disqualify himself (herself) for bias under 18 U.S.C. 144, another judge of the court may hear the evidence of bias. See, for example, U.s. v. Garramone, 374 F. Supp. 256, 258 (ED. Pa. 1974), stating: "Sec. 144 contemplates a bias or prejudice stemming from religious, ethnic, sociological, or other similar extrajudicial grounds." One experienced Federal trial attorney, who will remain anonymous, reports: "To dis- qualify a Federal judge for bias against your client, you must prove that the judge burned your client in effigy for each of 30 days in a row." Perhaps the danger of forum-shopping via disqualification proceedings under sec. 144 accounts for this result; nonetheless, the implication for the problem at hand Is inescapable. 42 The opposite effect may occur, to the degree that contact with the targets of bias can inflame or exaggerate that bins. ~ Quite ironically, the only title VII action In which a motion for refusal has resulted in a written opinion, denying said motion, Blank v. ~nllivan G Cromwell, - F. Supp. -, 19 E.P.D. par. 10,365 (S.D.N.Y. 1975), Is before Judge Constance Baker Motley of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York; counsel for defendants therein grounded his motion to disqualify Judge Motley in part upon the fact that Judge Motley is a black female. 91-686-77-6 PAGENO="0082" 74 pressure upon some female and minority judges to resist any appear- ance of "compensatory" bias may stalemate the transition from cate- gorical bias to individualized fairness for some time. Finally, the criticism is well taken that the part of affirmative action in judicial appointments which goes directly to consideration of a candidate's personal biases is the most difficult part to achieve, and may be far more crucial to the realization of change than the "easier" part of goals and timetables. Nonetheless, the proposal of affirmative action in Federal judicial appointments embodies a value that transcends all such pragmatic criticisms as to its mechanical difficulties and political feasibility. Were the United States judiciary made subject in its composition to the affirmative action principle, there is no question that Federal enforce- ment of antidiscrimination law, particularly through the judiciary, would be given the incomparable credibility and strength that arises from the authority doing unto itself that which it is doing unto others. PAGENO="0083" LEGAL REMEDIES BEYOND TITLE VII TO COMBAT SEX DISCRIMINATION IN EMPLOYMENT By MARCIA GREENBERGER* AND DIANE GUTMANN** CONTENTS Page A. Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act 75 B. The Equal Pay Act of 1963 76 1. Legal interpretation of the act 80 2. Effectiveness of the Equal Pay Act 82 C. Executive Order 11246 84 1. Enforcement of the Executive order 85 2. Effectiveness of the order 87 D. Title IX 87 E. Effect of the equal rights amendment 88 F. Conclusion 89 That sex discrimination in employment has been a widespread prac- tice is beyond dispute. That pervasive sex discrimination in the work- place is still a critical problem also cannot be questioned.1 It is impor- tant, therefore, to assess the effectiveness of the existing legal remedies available to combat sex discrimination in employment in order to deter- mine whether they adequately serve their intended purposes. Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act 2 has played a leading role as the vehicle through which courts have defined employment practices that are considered sex discriminatory, and through which courts have provided relief to those discriminated against. 1-lowever, there are other Federal laws which prohibit sex discrimination in employment, and which provide alternate or supplementary options to title VII. In certain respects, these laws have advantages over title VII, either because of the sanctions they provide or because of the agencies charged with their enforcement. However, in order to review the effectiveness of these alternatives, it would be useful to describe these laws and their relationship to title VII. A. TITLE VII OP THE 1964 CIVIL RIGHTS ACT Title VII prohibits discrimination by employers in their employ- ment practices on the basis of sex. It is interprdted and enforced by the Equal Employment Opportunities Commission (EEOC). 5An attorney with the Women's Rights Project of the Center for Law and Social Policy in Washington, D.C., and a 1970 graduate of the University of Pennsylvania Law School. **A 2d year student at the University of Pennsylvania Law School and a student intern at the Center for Law and Social Policy. 1 Women who worked at year-round full-time jobs In 1974 earned only 57 cents for every dollar earned by men. Just as startling, in 1974 women with 4 years of college education had lower incomes than men who had completed only the eighth grade. U.S. Department of Labor, Employment Standards Administration, Women's Bureau. "The Earnings Gap Between Women and Men" (Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office, 1976). 2 42 U.S.C. sec. 2000e. A paper In this compendium prepared by Mary C. Dunlap, "The Legal Road to Equal Employment Opportunity: A Critical View," discusses the effective- ness of title VII as a remedy to sex discrimination. (75) PAGENO="0084" 76 The EEOC has the authority to investigate complaints, make a find- ing as to whether unlawful discrimination occurred, and if so, to seek a remedy in court. If after a specified time period EEOC has not in- vestigated a complaint, a complainant may seek a "right to sue letter" from the agency, go to court directly and sue the employer. If success- ful, the individual discriminated against can receive relief for the dis- crimination suffered as well as reimbursement of the costs of the suit, including attorneys' fees. This right to court redress as individuals or through class actions, including the possibility of recovery of attorneys' fees if successful, has been the critical reason why title VII has been one of the most effective tools available. However, title VII has had only limited success. In part, the effec- tiveness of the VII is hampered because EEOC has been unable to shoulder the maj or burden of securing compliance with the law. A.n in- sufficient budget and administrative ineptitude have been responsible for EEOC's inability to mount an aggressive enforcement campaign. Instead, enforcement has been left to the private individuals who have been discriminated against, through private lawsuits in courts. The provision of an award of attorneys' fees to successful plaintiffs has facilitated access to courts, at least to some degree. However, private groups and individuals are ill-equipped to shoulder the enforcement burden alone. Those discriminated against are often unable, for financial and other reasons, to secure lawyers and to press their claims in court. In addition, the harrassment and intimidation suffered by complainants is a further hindrance to their willingness and ability to go to court. Therefore, since EEOC plays such a limited role, and those discriminated against face serious obstacles in going to court for redress, very few instances of discrimination are ever exposed and remedied. Moreover, because of the design of title VII, little incentive is given to employers to eliminate discriminatory practices before they are sued. In large part, this, is because title VII remedies are mainly prospective in nature, with back pay as the major exception. There are no penalties available under the act. An employer therefore has little to lose by waiting to change discriminatory practices until forced to do so by a `court. Back salary would have been paid by a nondiscrimi- nating employer in any event, and any future changes ordered by a court presumably' also would have been instituted by an employer seeking voluntarily to eliminate discriminatory practices. By waiting for a court to order back pay, the company has the use of the funds in the meantime. And, of course, there are good possibilities of settling a case on a compromise basis, or of a company's winning even if it has discriminated. This virtual absence of any sanction for noncompliance, coupled with relatively few cases ever brought to court, accounts for the relative ineffectiveness of title VII. B. `THE EQUAL PAY ACT OF 1963 The Equal Pay Act (EPA)3 passed in 1963, was the first Federal law to prohibit wage discrimination by sex, despite the fact that many such bills had been introduced prior to that time. Unlike title VII passed the following year, the EPA does not touch upon any area of employment discrimination outside the realm of compensation. Its enactment was deemed necessary in light of the fact that women, who ~29 U.S.C. sec. 206(6). PAGENO="0085" 77 then constituted one-third of the labor force, were earning an average of only 60 percent of the average wage of men.4 It is, of course, a sad commentary that 14 years after the passage of the act, women now earn only 57 percent of the average wages for men. The EPA mandates equal pay for equal work on j ohs requinng equal skill, effort and responsibility that are performed under similar working conditions within any establishment. Such differentials are permissible, however, if based upon seniority, merit or incentive sys- tems or any factor other than sex. Employers may not bring their establishments into compliance by means of lowering the wages earned by any group of employees. EPA does not cover as large a number of employees as does title VIL However, the exemptions to coverage have been narrowed in recent years.5 Originally, 11 categories of employees were not subject to the act.6 Taking 1972 as a sample year, there were an estimated 2 mil]ion enterprises covered with more than 46 million employees affected.~ The EPA was amended by the Education Amendments Act of 1972 to include executive, administrative, and profession- al employee.s and outside salespersons.8 Moreover, in 1974, further amendments included additional State and local government em- ployees, most Federal employees and others.° Employees who feel they have a claim under the EPA may opt to bring suit for back wages,1° liquidated damages including double dam- ages for willful violations,11 attorney fees and court costs through a 4 Statement made by President Kennedy upon signing the EPA on June 10, 1963. cited in Albert A. Ross and Frank V. McDermott, Jr., "The Equal Protection Act of 1963: A Decade of Enforcement." 16 Boston Collere Industrial and Commercial Law Rev. 1-73 (November 1974) (hereinafter "Ross and McDermott article"). Tt has been estimated that three-fourths of the employed nonsupervisorv workforce, excluding outside sales workers, and almost seven-eighths of the nonsupervisory employees, excluding outside sales workers in the private sector, were covered by the act. See "Mini- mum Wage and Maximum Hours Standards tinder the Fair Labor Standards Act." an economic effects study submitted to Congress, 1977 (Washington, D.C.: U.S. Department of Labor. Employment Standards Administration, 1977), p. 55. Sec. 213. supp. 1975. enumerates 11 categories of employees who are exemut if they are emplove~ "in a bonn tide e~eeutive. administrative, or professional capacity"; "in the capacity of outside salesman": by any retail or service establishment if more than 50 percent of the annual dollar volume for sales of such goods and services is made within the State; by an amusement or recreational establishment: by certain manufacturing retailers: in certain fishing and seafood operations; In certain types of agricultural activities; by a local newspaper; by a small independently owned public telephone com- pany; as a seaman on a vessel other than an American vessel; or on a casual basis in domestic service to provide babysitting or companionship services for Individuals unable to care for themselves. 7 John F. Burns and Catherine G. Burns, "An Analysis of the Equal Pay Act," 24 Labor Law Journal 92, February 1973. Since 1972, investigations of tile Wage and Hour Division showed higher education institutions owed some 8,000 employees, many professional, about $10 million in hack pay. Several institutions have paid more than $100,000 in back wages to employees. However. not all of the hack wages found d"e have yet been paid. "Equal Opnortunity in Higher Education." biweekly newsletter, Washington, D.C., Education News Services Division of Capitol Publications. Inc. (Feb. 4, 1977). p. 8. i 1974 amendments to Fair Labor Standards Act of Apr. 8. 1974. Public Law 93-259, SR Stat. 55. amending 29 U.S.C. sec. 201 et see. (1970) ; in Brown V. (Yitij of tionta Bar7~arq, 45 tJ.S.L.W. 2351, Jan. 14, 1977, U.S. district court, California. the court held that the 1974 amendments to the Fair Labor Standards Act (which applied the ecual pay provi- sions to Federal and State employees) constituted a valid exercise of congressional Power, notwithstanding the Supreme Court's earlier decision in Nationo7 Leeqne of Cities v. TTseru,44 U.S.L.W. 474 (1976). In Useri~ it was found that the amendments' extension of minimum wage and hour protection to State and local government employees constituted invalid Federal rerulation of State governmental activities. The Court decided that the 1974 extension of the Ecual Pay Act would not impinge on the States' sovereirntv since the argument that decision to discriminate In pay on the basis of sex is an essential and integral State function is both asinine and an affront to human dirnitv." 45 U.S.L.W. at 2352. See also (Thristensen v. Iowa, 45 U.S.L.W. 2086, Aug. 14. 1976 (TT.S.D.C. N. lowal, and Userit v. Afleqlieny City Institution fist., 45 U.S.L.W. 2251 (3d Cir.L Oct. 29. 1976. 1~ It is important to note that back pay may be recovered for 2 years for nonwiliful violations and 3 years for willful. In tItle VII, the limit is 2 years. ~ Prior to the enactment of the 1974 amendments, see. 16 (c) Prevented the Secretary from hriaging an action to recover hack wages in a case involving a question of first Impression, essentially rendering the remedy of see. 16(c) totally ineffective. Ross and McDermott, op. cit., p. 11. PAGENO="0086" 78 private attorney. However, unlike title VII, no class actions may he brought. Alternatively, the employee may seek the assistance of the Wage and Hour Division of the Department of Labor by filing a com- plaint with the Division. If merit is found, the Labor Department itself may go to court to seek an injunction to restrain continued viola- tions and prevent withholding of back wages legally due.~ Moreover, the Wage and Hour Division is empowered to conduct investigations of employers' compliance with the Act, whether or not complaints were received. In contrast, the EEOC acts on the basis of complaints. There are currently approximately 1,000 compliance offi- cers across the country, but it has been estimated that only 15-20 per cent of their time is devoted to enforcement of the EPA.12 Most of the compliance investigations conducted are not made in response to a complaint filed by an employee.'3 These general, routine compliance investigations are key in allowing for an overall strategy for enforcement. In addition, they facilitate the ability of the investiga- tor to keep complaints confidential, for an employer does not know whether or not the investigation stemmed from a complaint. As a result, harassment and retaliation are kept to a minimum. Upon a finding by the Wage and Hour Division of a violation of the EPA, voluntary compliance is usually obtained, including an agree- ment to pay back wages. It has been estimated that more than 95 per cent of equal pay cases are settled out of the courts.'4 Table I indicates the amounts foirnd due by the Labor Department in 1969-1972. As can be seen from this chart, as a result of the 1,115 establishments TABLE I-TOTAL NUMBER OF EQUAL PAY INVESTIGATIONS CONDUCTED BY U.S. DEPARTMENT OF LABOR Establishments Fiscal year: 1969 1970 1971 1972 385 736 1,203 1,115 Number of employees underpaid under the EPA Amounts found due Fiscal year: 1965 960 1966 6,633 1967 5,931 1968 6,622 1969 16, 100 1970 17,719 1971 29, 992 1972 29,022 1973 29, 619 1974 (6 me) 16, 507 $156, 202 2,097, 600 3,252,319 2,488,405 4, 585, 344 6,119,265 14, 842, 994 14,030,889 18, 005, 582 11,043, 833 Sosrce: Memorandum of Morag Simchak, Chief, Branch of Equal Pay Discrimination, U.S. Department of Labor (Jan- uary 1974). Ross and McDermott, op. cit. p. 10. Ua Prior to the enactment of the 1974 amendments, section 16(c) prevented the Secretary from bringing an action to recover back wages in a case involving a question of first im- pression, essentially rendering the reanedy of section 16 (c) totally ineffective. Ross & McDermott, op. cit., p. 11. ~° Telephone conversation with Mr. Michael Mccarthy of the Department of Labor Standards Office of Equal Pay and Employment Standards, Apr. 20, 1977. 13 Burns, op. cit., p. 92. 14 Burns, op. cit., p. 95. PAGENO="0087" 79 investigated in 1972, more than 29,000 employees were found to have been underpaid under the EPA.15 A well-publicized settlement leading to substantial wage adjust- ments in part under the EPA was that entered into with American Telephone & Telegraph. In 1970, the EEOC conducted an investiga- tion of the employment practices of A.T. & T., and found race and sex discrimination in their nonmanagement employee programs. Because at the time the EEOC did not have the power to go to court, the agency petitioned the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to order the elimination of these sex and race discriminatory practices pursu- ant to A.T. & T. `s request for a rate increase. An extensive hearing was conducted by the FCC, and the Department of Labor joined the effort. In January, 1973 a settlement with A.T. & T. was reached whereby $15 million in adjustments was to be paid to 15,000 employees discriminated against on the basis of race and sex. Moreover, an ad- justment in wage rates estimated at $23 million each year was agreed to. Finally, A.T. & T. agreed to adopt an affirmative action plan re- quiring serious modifications in their policies and practices.~° Ques- tions have been raised, however, about whether A.T. & T. has been meeting the goals set forth in the plan. A second aspect of the settlement took the form of a consent decree entered in U.S. District Court on May 30, 1974, covering management employees. The decree involved changing the wage structure for pro- motions, and it was estimated that approximately 17,000 employees (10,000 women) would receive wage adjustments of $14.9 million under the change. Moreover, 7,000 employees (4,200 women) would receive $7 million in back pay awards. This was the first major settle- ment reached under the 1972 amendments to the Equal Pay Act which extended coverage to professional and managerial employees.1T The large sums found due resulting from these investigations strongly indicate the pervasive nature of sex discrimination in wage rates and the need to reach all of the other establishments with a much more widespread campaign than the Wage and Hour Division has thus far waged. One distressing fact is that as of February 22, 1976, the Wage and Hour Division had a backlog of 1,800 complaints received under EPA but unresolved, as indicated in table II. It is hoped that a more vigorous enforcement effort will be undertaken in the future. Total New coverage Old coverage Complaint backlog Fiscal year: 1969 385 NA NA NA 1970 738 NA NA NA 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976....... 1976 1 1, 203 1, 122 2,095 2, 864 2, 727 2, 311 4~7 NA NA NA NA 375 253 77 NP NA NA NA 2, 352 2, 058 370 456 432 1,201 1,487 1,790 1,860 1,798 Sept. 21, 1976-Jan. 20, 1977 454 77 377 1, 800 1 Transition quarter, June 21-Sept. 20, 1976. Note: Litigation-Over 1,024 cases have been fled since the act's effective date. 15 There have been amounts recovered under the Equal Pay Act pursuant to private suits as well. For example, in 1973 a settlement was reached pursuant to a case filed in the northern district of Indiana, Burry V. General Electric, whereby the company paid $300,000 in back pay and agreed to a $1 million increase in wages. Winn Newman, "Policy Issues," 1 Signs: Journal of Women in Culture and Society 270, table 2 (spring, 1976). 16 Significantly, no changes in the employment policies related to pregnancy were adopted. 17The Spokeswoman (July 15, 1974), p. 1. PAGENO="0088" 80 1. Legal Interpretation of the Act In order to establish a violation of EPA, a showing must be made that the "employer pays different wages to employees of opposite sexes `for equal work on jobs the performance of which requires equal skill, effort, and responsibility and which are performed under similar conditions.' ~~18 Failure to prove each of these elements results in dis- missal since the act is brought into play only when the jobs in question are equal. That is to say, the EPA is not relevant to determine rea- sonable differentials for unequal work. A significant amount of litigation has dealt with the meaning of "equal work." Equality does not require that the jobs be identical, but they must be "substantially equal," 19 even if the nature of the iobs makes it impractical for both sexes to work interchangeably.20 The doctrine of substantial equality was discussed by the Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit in Hodgson v. Brookhaven Hospital: As the doctrine is emerging, jobs do not entail equal effort, [and skill and re- sponsibility] even though they entail most of the same routine duties, if the more highly paid job involves additional tasks which (1) require extra effort [skill and responsibility], (2) consume a significant amount of the time of all those whose pay differentials are to be justified in terms of them, and (3) are of an economic value commensurate with the pay differential.~' It is important to note that the skill, effort and responsibility involved are to be determined by the actual demands of the position and not from the job classification or description. For example, where the employer justifies a higher male salary because he has some special ability which the female in the comparable job does not, a showing that the job does not in reality require that skill will result in a finding of an EPA violation. Following this reasoning the t.hird circuit in User~j v. Allegheny Count7j Hospital. supra. recently held that beau- ticians and barbers held equal jobs for purposes of EPA and were entitled to equal wages. Many employers arbitrarily try to accord greater weight to physical effort required on the job than to skill, job responsibility and working conditions, hut the court in Hodgson v. Dais~j i1Ifg. 00.22 struck down that reasoning as a means of characterizing jobs as unequal. That court also made it clear that "effort" entails both physical and mental labor, with neither automatically commanding higher wages if the degree of effort expended is comparable. Another issue ofteu raised concerns additional tasks performed by male employees and whether such tasks justify a. higher salary. In order to justify the differential wa.ge imder such circumstances. the employer must demonstrate that every employee receiving the higher wage is performing the extra task and that everyone performing the extra task is receiving the higher wage. Further, the employer must show that the primary job functions of the two groups are somehow 18 Corning Glass Works v. Brennan, 417 U.S. 188. 195 (i974). Johnson, Janet A.. "The Ecmal Pay Act of i963: A Practical Analysis," 24 Drake Law Rev. 570, p. 591 (1975). 19 Ficlsultz v. Wbeaton Glass Co., 421 F. 26 25~ (3d Cir.), certiorari denied, 398 U.S. 905 (1970). 20 IloCgson v. Robert Hail Clothes, Inc., 473 F. 26 589 (3d Cir. 1973) certiorari denied, 4i4 ITS. 866 (i973). 201Todqson V. Brookhaven General Hospital, 436 F. 2d 7i9, 725 (5th Cir. 1970). 2-Hoclgson v. Daisy .l1'fg. Co., 3i7 F. Supp. 53S. 544 (w.D. Ark. i970). affirmed in part, reversed in part, and remanded per curiam, 445 F. 2d 823 (Sth Cir. i97i). PAGENO="0089" 81 made qualitatively different by the presence of the additional duty. Differential wages have been struck down when based upon extra jobs which do not in fact exist 23 or which consume minimal time and are of little significance.24 In examinii~g the employee's responsibilities (described as the "degree of accountability required in the performance of the job. with emphasis on the importance of the job obligation" 25), higher wages have been deemed justified for employees in supervisory roles or in positions requiring that they make decisions materially affecting the employer's business operations.26 The EPA has also been held inapph- cable where a group of higher paid employees had accident prevention duties 27 or security responsibilities.28 However, even if unequal pay for an "equal" job is shown, the em- ployer may still justify wage differentials if they result from a system of seniority, merit or incentive, or any other factor other than sex, provided the system is "a systematic normal system" based upon "objective, written standards." 29 The ascertainable criteria for these systems must be known, available and equally applied to all em- ployees.30 An employer must justify paying even one member of one sex at a different rate than members of the opposite sex performing equal work by showing that sex factors provided no pa.rt of the differential basis. For example, night shift workers might legally receive higher wages because of the undesirability of the work, even if the shift is comprised solely of one sex. However, if that shift also receives a higher base rate than the shift staffed by the opposite sex performing the same work or the sex-differentiated shift employees are the only ones on those shifts earning more than their corresponding day workers, a violation of EPA would occur.31 "Red circle" rates (higher rates legitimately paid to one set of employees because of some special circumstances which are not sex- related), may be permissible in recognition of prior achievement and experience if relevant to the job requirements and evenhandedly ap- l?lied to both sexes. For example, they may be allowable for a bona fide training program, in which case the court will look for the ex- istence of several factors: In summary, the cases suggest that the courts look to the following factors as tests for the legitimacy of such programs: whether the trainee is aware of the program's existence; whether the employee is actually hired as a trainee; whether the work performed by the trainee and the regular employees is sub- stantially the same; whether the program entails any instruction, courses or 23 Brennan v. Goose Creek Consolidated md. Sch. Dist., 519 F. 2c1 53 (5th Cir. 1975) Brennan v. Woodbridge School District, 8 CCH Empi. Prac. Dec. 5719 (D. Del. 1974). 2~ Brennan v. Bd. of Ed., 374 F. Supp. 817 (D.N.J. 1974). In Brennan v. Owensboro- Davies flty. Hosp. (6th CIr. 1975), No. 73-1261, 10 EPD para. 10, 404, the court struck down a wage differential between nurses aides and orderlies upon finding that they per- formed much the same work. Although generally only orderlies set up traction and assisted in removing casts, these duties were found to have been performed "so infre- quently that they did not render the jobs of aides and orderlies substantially different. The average additional portmortem work done by orderlies was deemed to constitute a `modest difference" which did not justify the existing wage differential. 10 EPD, p. 5709. 29 CFR 800.129 (1974). 26 Brennan v. Victoria Bank and Trust Co., 493 F. 2d 896, 899 (5th Cir. 1974). 27Hodgson V. Daisy Mfg. Co., supra. 28 Schulz V. Ky. Baptist Hospital, 62 CCH Lab. Cas. 44 (W.D. Ky., 1969). ~ Brennan v. Victoria Bank and Trust Co. supra. 30 29 CFR 800.144 (1974). n Corning Glass Works v. Brennan, supra at 204-205. PAGENO="0090" 82~ supervision; whether there is a written, formalized program; whether trainees are actually rotated through various jobs to get a better comprehension of the employer's business operations; whether rotation occurs due to completion of the training program rather than the employer's personnel needs; and whether the program is available to members of both sexes.'2 Temporary assignments may also serve as a permissible reason to pay an employee at a different rate than others performing the work, as is true for temporary or part-time employees, as long as the practice is applied without discrimination against either sex.33 Differential wage treatment cannot be justified by claiming that it is costlier to employ women,34 nor may employers rely on the "market force" theory that women will work for less money than men,35 since it is just this sort of discrimination that the EPA was designed to remedy. It is not clear, however, whether an employer may, because of some "economic benefit," pay higher wages to one group of em- ployees. In Hodgson v. Robert Hall, supra, the Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit allowed higher wages for all the male employee group in the men's department tha.n were being paid to the female employees who worked in the women's department, in part because of the greater profits realized in the men's department and the fact that the court found the sex segregation was justifiable. The court held that under those circumstances wage differentials not related to actual job performance could be maintained for the economic benefit of the employer. The fifth circuit held differently, finding in a similar ~itua- tion that the differential was based on sex, although there was no proof in that case that the men's department was more profitable for the employer.36 The implications of the Robert Hall case are quite disturbing. If employers can look to profitability as a basis for wage rates, the effec- tiveness of the EPA in many circumstances might be seriously under- mined. ~. Effectiveness of the Equal Pay Act As can be seei~ by the. number and size of back pay awards made under the EPA, the statute has had a significant impact on remedying discrimination in wage rates. However, the fact should be noted that as of January 1977 the Wage and Hour Division has found $135,590,752 due but only $29,562,135 has been restored, as indicated in table III.3T "Janet A. Johnson, op. cit., pp. 570, 596. "29 CFR 800.147 (1974). `~ See ITS. Department of Labor, Employment Standards Administration, women's Bureau, "The Myth and the Rea1ity'~ (Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office, April 1973) for discussion of absentee rates, work-life expectancy, and job rates. `~ Brennan v. Victoria Bank and Trust Co., 493 F. 2d 896 (5th Cir. 1974). `6Hodgson v. City Stores, Inc., 332 F. Supp. 942 (M.D. Ala. 1971), affirmed sub nom. Brennan v. City Stores, Inc., 479 F. 2d 235 (5th Cir. 1973). `7 Although the moneys found due are only estimates of what Is owed, and may, there- fore, be inflated, the large disparity with the amounts actually restored is disturbing. PAGENO="0091" 83 TABLE Ill-EQUAL PAY FINDINGS Number of employees underpaid under the Equal Pay ~ Act Amounts Income restored - found due Employees Amount Fiscal year: 1965 1966 1967 1968 1969 1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 19763 Sept. 21, 1976-Jan. 20, 1977. Total Sept. 21, 1975-Jan. 20, 1976 960 6, 633 5, 931 6,622 16 100 17 719 29 992 29 022 1 29 619 32, 792 31 843 24 610 2 402 4, 930 $156 202 2, 097, 600 3, 252, 319 2 448,405 4,585 344 6 119 265 14 842 994 14 030 889 118 005 582 2 20, 623 830 26 484 860 17 952 212 1,487,464 3, 503, 786 NA NA NA NA NA NA NA NA 117, 331 2 16, 768 17 889 16 728 1,765 4, 297 NA NA NA NA NA NA NA NA 1 $4, 626, 251 2 6,841,443 7, 474, 163 7,881,502 650,217 2, 088, 559 239, 175 135, 590, 752 74, 778 29, 562, 135 9, 182 7, 963, 667 5, 777 3, 074, 046 iNot included in these figures is $6,300,000 paid under the Equal Pay Act by Amnrican Telephone & Telegraph to 6,100 of its employees. While the violative practice was originally disclosed by several wage-hour investigations, the resolution of the problem throughout the entire American Telephone & Telegraph operating system was secured through litigation by the Solicitors Office but was not based on indaidual compliance actions. This amount is thus not included in vage-hour compliance action statistics. 2 Not included in these figures is $7,000,000 which the company agreed to restore to 7,OCO emplcyees. This is the2d consent decree which was entered into with A.T. & T. covering equal pay violations at management level. 3 Transition quarter, June 21-Sept. 20, 1976. Several explanations have been advanced concerning the mounting backlog of complaints. The answer lies in part in the fact that investi- gators have been given additional responsibilities, including age dis- crimination and the expanded coverage of the EPA and Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), yet the number of investigators has not been expanded accordingly. Moreover, the professional employment cases are more complex and more difficult for investigators to understand and resolve. Finally, there are those who raise the question that the commitment to enforce EPA may not be as strong as it should be. Even if more vigorous enforcement were secured, the effectiveness of EPA will continue to be limited. A serious drawback of EPA is that even where virtually identical jobs are at issue, there are exceptions in the act which allow differences in wage rates if they are based on fac- tors other than sex. Decisions such as that in Robert Hall underscore the limitations of EPA because of these exceptions. Further, the EPA has no effect on the critical problem of women clustered in low-status, low-paying jobs where there are no male counterparts. And it should be noted that most women working out- side the home work in such jobs. EPA does not provide a vehicle for moving women into nontraditional jobs, nor does it address the need to upgrade the status and pay of jobs traditionally held by women. For example, it has long been suggested that traditionally female jobs such as nurse or secretary have been undervalued in relationship to jobs such as "salesmen." as The EPA cannot be used to address this issue. It is 28 In the State of California, a clerk-typist II must have a high school education, knowl- edge of office machines and equipment, grammar, spelling, and so forth. A warehouse worker must have the ability to read and write English; there are no educational or specialized skills required. Warehouse workers, virtually always male, make $109 more per month than clerk-typists, a 97-percent female class. 7 "The Spokeswoman" 4 (Mar. 15, 1977). PAGENO="0092" 84 precisely because the great bulk of women in paid employment work in "women's jobs" ~ that the Equal Pay Act, even if enfOrced to its full potential, is of important but limited utility. C. EXECUTIVE ORDER 11246 In 1964, the President issued Executive Order 11246 (32 Fed. Reg. 12319), which prohibits Federal contract funds from going to em- ployers who discriminate in their employment policies or practices on the basis of race, color, religion, or national origin. In 1968, the order was amended to include sex. Executive Order 11375 (32 Fed. Reg. 14303). For the most part, the employment practices prohibited by title VII are also prohibited by Executive Order 11246. Therefore its scope is broader than the Equal Pay Act. However, the employers covered are limited to those receiving Federal contracts. ihe Executive order is enforced by the Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (OFCCP) within the Labor Department. OFCCP has in turn delegated enforcement responsibilities to Federal agencies which each focus on different industries.40 The program is divided into construction and nonconstruction contractors. The approach of this Executive order differs from that of the Equal Pay Act or title VII, in that the major remedy is not direct relief to the individuals discriminated against in the form of back pay, promo- tion, reinstatement or the like. Instead the sanction is termination of Federal contract funds 41 if the discrimination is not remedied. Of course. back pay, promotion, et cetera can be secured by OFCCP in order that the fund cutoff remedy not be used. Moreover. Executive Order 11246 has a~ unique and critical aspect which could be its greatest strength. Pursuant to regulations issued under the Executive order,. contractors must develop affirmative action plans in order to remain eligible for Federal contracts. With the de- velopment of and adherence to good affirmative action plans. enormous progress could be made in the eradication of sex discrimination in employment.42 In addition, unlike title VII or the Equal Pay Act. there is no ex- press provision under Executive Order 11246 for a. private right of ac- tion. and t.here has vet to be established a clear right of individuals to go to court directly and sue the Federal contractor if it has sex- ~ "Although the future may hold more options, the largest proportion of women with paid employment currently work in clerical/sales occupations. These typists. clerks. secre- tories, and office machine operators comprise * * * 38 percent of those in the paid labor force. `Twelve percent of all women are in professional, technical. and managerial JOi)S. lint half of this group work in education or health fields, principally in teaching and nursinv. Only 9 percent of women are members of labor unions." Barbara Bryant. "Anwricon Women Today and Tomorrow" (Washington, D.C.: National Commission on floe Oh- servonce of International Women's Year, March 1977). 4° The 11 compliance agencies are the Atomic Energy Commission, Department of Agr~- culture, Department of Commerce. Department of Defense. Department of H~nltlo. Rim- cation, and Welfare, Department of the Interior. Department of the Treasury. Department of Transportation, General Services Administration, U.S. Postal Service, Veterans' Administration. 41 A further sanction is referral of the case to the Justice Department for suit. 42 The whole operation of affirmative action plans is now being reviewed liv tim co"rts. in light of charges of "reverse discrimination." See, for example, Cramer v. Virginia Cons- mon.wealth University, 415 P. Supp. 673 (ED. Va. 1976) for a case involving Eaecutive Order ii246, presently on appeal to the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals. PAGENO="0093" 85 discriminatory employment practices. As a result, individuals discrimi.. nated against have tended to rely upon the OFCCP and delegated Fed- eral contract compliance agencies to enforce the Executive order and to investigate complaints filed by the aggrieved individuals or groups.43 The agencies can conduct investigations either pursuant to a com- plaint or their own plan of spot checks of contractors for compliance with the provisions of the Executive order.~~ It is expected that em- ployers will agree to remedy discrimination under the threat of fund- termination. Unfortunately, on the whole this reliance upon OFCCP for enforce- ment has been misplaced. Most of the compliance agencies have yet to develop vigorous enforcement efforts, and OFCOP has failed to exercise its authority to require that such efforts be made. Moreover, since there have been so few enforcement efforts, there has been very little case law interpreting the Executive order. 1. Enforcement of the Executive Order A series of reports by the General Accounting Office (GAO) have reviewed the enforcement efforts under Executive Order 11246 and found those efforts to be seriously wanting.45 Moreover, enforcement has been particularly inadequate in the area of sex discrimination For example, GAO `has found that `compliance agencies often did not investigate to see if `discrimination was systemic and affected a class of employees. Similarly, they did not review whether there was a need for back pay.46 It was n'ot until March 1975 that OFOCP published proposed guidelines on `back pay for affected class employees. Yet it is through `back pay and class relief that the most effective remedies to discrimination can be achieved. In addition, GAO has found that during fiscal year 1972-74, vir- tually all efforts of the OFCCP regional staffs were `devoted to moni- toring the construction program. Yet, the construction program is not geared to the problems of sex discrimination, and still only requires affirmative action through goals and timetables to be developed for race and national origin, not for sex.47 ~ In a recent change In its regulations, OFCCP will not retain any responsibility for investigating complaints. ~ Unfortunately, compliance agencies responsible for enforcing Executive Order 1 1246 do not have the same record of success in keeping the identity of complainants conficlen- tial as the Wage and Hours Division under the EPA. ~ "EEO Program for Federal Nonconstruction Contractors Can Be Improved," MWD- 75-63 (Washington, D.C.: General Accounting Office, Apr. 29, 1975). "Colleges and Universities With Government Contracts Provide Equal Employment Opportunity," MWD-75-72 (Washington, D.C.: General Accounting Office, Aug. 25. 1975). "Report to Congressman Jones on the Federal Equal Employment Program for North- east Oklahoma Construction Projects Is Weak," MWD-76-56 (Washington, D.C.: Gen- eral Accounting Office, May 28, 1976). "More Action Needed To Insure `That Financial Institutions Provide Equal Employment Opportunity," MWD-76-95 (Washington, D.C.: General Accounting Office Jure 24 1976). ~° Gregory J. Ahart, testimony and prepared statement on the evaluation of the contract compliance program in' nonconstruction industry, hearings, U.S. Congress, Subcommittee on Fiscal Policy, Joint Economic Committee, 93d Cong., 2d sess. (Washington, D.C. Government Printing Office, Sept. 11, 12, 1974). The Ahart article summarizes the findings of the GAO report, "EEO Programs for Federal Nonconstruction Contractó~s' "Can Be Improved," prepared for the U.S. Congress, Subcommittee on Fiscal Policy of' the Joint Economic Committee, Apr. 29, 1975. ~` Advocates for Women V. Marshall, Civ. Action No. 76-0862, presently pending D.D.C. challenges this omission. PAGENO="0094" 86 The weaknesses in the enforcement program were summarized as follows: At least two compliance agencies were approving affirmative action programs that did not meet department guidelines. Some agencies were reluctant to initiate enforcement actions and therefore they extended conciliation efforts with con- tractors beyond department time limits. Some compliance agencies did not always conduct the required preaward reviews. Of the 13 compliance agencies, 12 had not identified all contractors for which they were responsible, and most agencies were not reviewing an adequate portion of the contractors for which they were responsible. Ahart, op. cit., p. 568. Moreover, enforcement of Executive Order 11246 has not im- proved dramatically since the Ahart article and the GAO report dated May 5, 1975. A GAO report dated August 25, 1975, dealt with enforce- ment of the order by the Department of Health, Education, and Wel- fare (HEW) and was entitled "More Assurances Needed That Col- leges and Universities With Government Contracts Provide Equal Employment Opportunity." The report concluded, for example, that sanctions for noncompliance were not initiated and affirmative action plans not approved. Significantly, in its published annual operating plan for fiscal year 1977, the Office for Civil Rights (OCR) in HEW- the Office charged with the responsibility of enforcing the Executive order-announced it would investigate virtually no new sex discrimi- nation complaints filed under Executive Order 11246 and would con- duct no general reviews of compliance with this order. 41 Fed. Reg. 41776 and the following (September 23, 1976). in short, OCR an- nounced its enforcement of the order had come to a standstill.48 And OFCCP had not secured any change in this policy. At the present time, there is a backlog of over 500 Executive order complaints. Finally, GAO prepared a report dated March 30, 1977, concerning the Office for Civil Rights in HEW. This report repeated the distressing conclusions of the earlier reports prepared. There are several possible explanations for this total lack of en- forcement of Executive Order 11246. OCR itself claims that it lacks sufficient resources to do a better job, an explanation which appears to lack credibility. Women's groups have been shocked to learn that during the last several years OCR has returned, unspent, millions of dollars to the Treasury. As of May 1977, there were over 200 author- ized slots in OCR which were unfilled. These unfilled positions repre- sented more than one-fourth of all OCR positions. Given these hard facts, coupled with lack of training of the personnel which OCR does have and the absence of established routine procedures for enforce- ment, it is clear that OCR has been either unwilling or unable to de- velop a serious enforcement effort of the Executive order. GAO has also prepared a report on the enforcement of Executive Order 11246 by the Treasury Department against financial institu- tions dated ,hme 24, 1976, and entitled "More Action Needed To In- sure That Financial Institutions Provide Equal Employment Oppor- tunity." The summary on the cover page of the report stated: 48A suit was filed and is currently pending against HEW and the Labor Department for failure to enforce the sex discrimination provisions of the Executive order against univer- sities. Wonven'8 Equity Action League et ci. v. Califano ci a?., D.D.C. (Civ. Action No. 74-1720). PAGENO="0095" 87 Treasury has made limited progress in insuring that financial institutions follow equal employment opportunity practices. The program's credibility ha~ been seriously impaired by Treasury's record of nonenforcement-even in in- stances of financial institutions' deliberate refusal to comply with requirements.49 2. Effectiveness of the Order The unique aspect of Executive Order 11246 is its sanction of Fed- eral fund cutoff and requirement of the development of affirmative action plans.5° However, because individual lawsuits are not encour- aged by the structure of the Executive order, enforcement of its provi- sions has depended upon the efforts of the OFCCP and the compliance agencies. As discussed above, Government agencies to date have been unwilling or unable to provide effective enforcement of this order. Since the Executive order was amended to include sex in 1968, vir- tually no Federal funds have ever been terminated or contractors de- barred because of their sex-discriminatory practices. And because the sanction of the Executive order is for practical purposes never in- voked, there is little compliance with it on the part of employers re- ceiving Federal contracts. That is not to say, however, that the Executive order has secured no gains for women at all. Some employers have been willing to develop effective affirmative action plans or enter into settlements providing some remedies for past discrimination. For example, under the Execu- tive order in a settlement with the Veterans' Administration, McNeil Laboratories, a subsidiary of Johnson & Johnson, has adopted a mater- nity leave policy guaranteeing workers reinstatement without loss of pay, job status and seniority after childbirth, miscarriage, and abor- tion.5' However, until the Government indicates its willingness to im- pose sanctions when necessary, recalcitrant employers can continue to refuse to change sex-discriminatory employment practices without fear of losing Government contracts. D. TImE IX Title IX of the Education Amendments Act of 1972 52 prohibits sex discrimination in employment or student programs or policies of edu- cational institutions receiving Federal funds. The title IX regulations dealing with employment are very similar to those guidelines issued by the EEOC under title Vu.53 The sanction under title IX is simi- lar to that of the Executive order-fund cutoff to institutions which discriminate.~~ Moreover, the problems with title IX are similar to the Executive order as well. ~ See also report on the "Treasury Department's Contract Compliance Program for Financial Institutions," 1J.S. Senate, Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs, 94th Cong., 2d sess. (Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office, 1976). 5° In the area of construction contracts, the failure to require goals and timetables for sex severely impairs this effectiveness. ~1 Spokeswoman, Mar. 15, 1977, p. `3. 52 20 U.S.C. sec. 1681 et seq. ~` In fact, the title IX regulations dealing with pregnancy-related disabilities are mod- eled after the guidelines struck down by the Supreme Court in Gilbert V. General Electric, 45 U.S.L.W. 4031 (1976). However, HEW has taken the position that the title IX regula- tions are valid, despite the G~lZbert ruling. ~ Its coverage with regard to educational institutions Is broader in that It Includes institutions receiving Federal funds of grants, loans, and so forth, In addition to contracts. PAGENO="0096" 88 The agency charged with the primary enforcement responsibility for title IX is also the Office for Civil Rights (OCR) in IE[EW. Al- though title IX was passed in 1972, regulations implementing the statute were not promulgated until 1975. Until that time, virtually no enforcement of title IX took place.55 Moreover, the most recent GAO report on OCR dated March 30, 1977, concerns the enforcement of title IX and indicates that the situation has improved little since 19Th. And the GAO states: * In short, OCR does not have a comprehensive and reliable management infor- mation system which provides top-level officials with the basic data needed for snaking management decisions and improving the Agency's efficiency and effec- tiveness in carrying out its civil rights enforcement responsibilities. Ibid. at 6. In short, although title IX prohibits schools from using sex dis- crimination in employment, little practical change has come from this prohibition. Moreover, a recent court case challenged the intent of title IX and whether its purpose was to prohibit sex discriinina- tion in employment at all. In Romeo School District v. Calilano, W.D. Mich. (April 6, 1977), the court held that title IX was in- tended to cover student programs, but not employment. HEW has indi- cated that it intends to appeal the case and to continue to apply title IX to sex discrimination in employment. It is expected that the Romeo decision would be overturned on appeal. Given the serious problems of HEW enforcement of title IX, its effectiveness as a remedy to fight sex discrimination in employment may well turn upon whether there is a private right of action for individuals and groups to sue schools directly nuder the a.ct. Attor- neys' fees are available if such a right is found.56 Courts are just beginning to consider the question. In Cannon v. University of Chicago,5T the seventh circuit held that there was no private right of action if a single individual was bringing suit rather than a class. However, the seventh circuit has decided to rehear the case, so that it has come to no final conclusion on the question. In Piasci/c v. Cleveland Museum of Art, 45 U.S.L.W. 2310 (N.1D. Ohio 1976), the court did find a private right of action. If such private suits are brought, the effectiveness of title IX might be improved dramatically. E. EFFECT OF THE EQUAL RIGHTS AMENDMENT The impact of the passage of the equal fights amendment (ERA) on the elimination of sex discrimination in employment is difficult to project. Because the ERA applies to governmental action, its real potential is in the area of Government employment. *~ ** -*** -~ With passage of the ERA, any sex discrimination in public em- ployment would be subjected to strict scrutiny by the courts.58 As i.s 55 See report of the TJ.S. Cbmmission on Civil Rights, "The Federal Civil Rights Enforce- ment Effort-1974," vol. III, "To Insure Equal Educational Opportunity," January 1975. 56 Civil Rights Attorneys' Fees Award Act of 1976 (Oct. 19. 1976), Public Law 94-559. ~` Cannon v. University of Chicago at a!., Civil Action No. 76-123S (presently pending) U.S. Court of Appeals for the. Seventh Circuit. 58 Presently, rather than requiring strict scrutiny and a compelling State interest. clis- tinctions based on sex can be justified if they serve important governmental objectives and are substantially related to the achievement of those interest. In contrast, race and national origin discrimination are subjected to strict scrutiny. See Craig v. Boren, 45 U.S.L.W. 4057 (Dec. 20, 1976). PAGENO="0097" 89 true with any other issues based on constitutional rights, individuals would have ~lirect access to courts in which to press their claims. One important issue limiting women's employment prospects- veterans' preference programs-might well be affected by the ERA. Veterans' preference laws are specifically exempted from title VII, 42 U.S.C. § 20003-11 (1970). Because so few women are accepted to serve in the Armed Forces, on the whole veterans' preferences tend to give men an advantage. Passage of the ERA might require that other means less detrimental to women be found to ease veterans' reentry into civilian life and reward service in the Armed Forces. For example, the veterans' preference might be extended to the vet- erans' spouses. A further impact of ERA might be to press States to take affirma- tive acts to mitigate the effects of past discriminatory practices. Such plans could include experiments with more flexible work hours, educa- tion leave programs and the like. F. CoNcLusIoN In sum, there are a variety of Federal laws prohibiting sex discri- mination in employment. Each has its own advantages and disad- vantages. However, all of the laws require strengthening. For ex- ample, more stringent sanctions to correct discriminatory practices should be available under title VII. Furthermore, it is extremely important that existing laws either be interpreted by courts or ex- pressly defined by Congress so as to require review of traditional female jobs in order to see whether they are rated fairly compared to traditional men's jobs. Because most women who work outside the home do so in "women's" jobs, it is critical that the pay, status, and benefits of these jobs be assessed according to neutral principles. Should jobs requiring manual dexterity, often held by women, be paid less than jobs requiring physical strength, often held by men? Are the tasks performed by secretaries worth less than those performed by "salesmen?" To date, existing sex discrimination laws have not been used in any major way to address these questions. Yet, since most women are employed in these "women's" jobs, a fair resolution of these questions is essential. Nevertheless, even with deficiencies in the design of the present laws, together with the problem of lack of resources to press cases, mability to find lawyers, and fear of retaliation, important gains have come from lawsuits of private citizens. Unfortunately, not as much can be said for Government efforts to spearhead enforcement. In no case is the responsible Federal agency fully meeting the expectations of the law; it is not implementing regu- lations by aggressively bringing suits or seeking far-reaching settle- ments that will change sex-discriminatory employment policies of employers across the country. At the moment, we can point only to isolated Government victories. Yet the private sector cannot carry the burden alone. It is only with more vigorous, widespread and con- sistent Government enforcement and a willingness to use available sanctions that we will see widespread movement which will signifi- cantly change the employment picture for women. 9i-686-77------7 PAGENO="0098" DE FACTO JOB SEGREGATION Bi B~RBAI~ B. REAGAN° CONTENTS Page 1. Identification of the problem 90 II. Major changes in the work place 91 III. Documenting job segregation 93 A. Slow movement into male dominated fields 90 B. Vertical mobility 9S IV. Causes of job segregation V Conclusion: Economic forces affect segregation 102 I. IDENTIFICATION OF THE PROBLEM Occupational segregation by sex exists when individual women are unable to make career choices freely, unfettered by subtle or implicit societal barriers. Such career choices include whether to work in unpaid production at home or in the workplace. Occupational segre- gation by sex also exists when employers have fixed perceptions of the role potential of women that give priority to women's sexual attractiveness or their motherhood or wifehood roles. As a result, employers treat all women working for pay as if they are secondary workers~ weakly attached to the market.. who only qualify for posi- tions of lower status that. are subordinate to those held by men. The results of sexism in occupational segregation are fourfold. First, women tend to be segregated and crowded into certain "female" occupations such as primary and secondary teachers, nurses, secretar- ies, typists, office clerical workers, retail sales clerks, health tech- nologists, waitresses, sewers, assemblers, and manufacturing checkers. Women are excluded or discouraged from going into, some other occu- pations, particularly positions involving administration or supervision of men, top leadership and power. Second, within a given occupation. women tend to be concentrated in the lower levels. Third, women's work is less highly valued than men's. Fourth. the total economic product of society is lower than it otherwise would be if women with skills and ability were permitted to prod1uce up to the limits of their capabilities. In short, occupational segregation by sex currently results in tile over-representation of women in the less favorable occupations. Even if equal pay for equal work is achieved, equality of opportunity will not occur simultaneously. This pa.per does not deal with the problems of attaining equal pay for equal work. Before World War II and even as late as 1950. the world of work sharply segregated women into jobs that were "helping" posit.ions for men, nurturing children. tile ill, or the disadvantaged, or working *Professor of economics, Southern Methodist University, Dallas, Tex. (90) PAGENO="0099" 91 in other people's homes. Women were expected to stay in the labor force only a short time or to be part-time or part-year workers. Jobs thought to be suitable for women were often extremely specific in job content, with little or no possibility of promotion and that could be filled by intermittent workers. Continuous job service and career de- velopment were not expected. Even fathers who aspired to college educations for their daughters talked about the value of young women getting some kind of skill certification as insurance against the possi- bility that something might happen to their future husbands. TI. MAJOR CHANGES IN THE WORK PLACE Since World War II and particularly since 1960, we have become aware of two major changes in the workplace related to women and their employment. These changes have had ripple effects throughout society, but many rigidities in the world of work have remainded. The increased number of women in the American civilian labor force, which has been well documented,' is clearly one of the most far- reaching transformations of our history. From 1950 to 1975, the num- ber of female workers has more than doubled. Since 1940, the number nearly tripled. Fifty-six percent of all women in the United States aged 18 to 64 years are now in the civilian labor force. The recent increase in the number of mothers with children under 6 who are working in the market place is particularly sharp.2 It is difficult to imagine what the level of gross national product would be in the absence of the current rates of labor force participation of women, even allowing for alternate sources of labor supply, such as younger workers. There are those, even today, who like to think of women workers as a residual labor force, to be called upon when needed on a temporary basis and sent back to the kitchen and the nursery when not needed. Such a view does not fit the modern aspirations of a work force with many women who see themselves as developing careers and working for much, if not all, of their adult lives. The young woman of today is concerned about how she is going to develop as a whole person; whether she should marry and have chil- dren; how and whether she and her husband are going to fit together marriage, children, and two careers; how much she should invest in her own education, and what is the likely pay-off of such an investment. She has little doubt, however, that at some time in her life she will be interested in the opportunities available for paid employment.~ She then wonders what her chance to contribute to her family and to society will be. Will she find a society receptive to her making a con- tribution in a meaningful way that will permit her to maximize her potential? Even though she is questioning, her expectations of the 1 "Employment and Training Report of the President" (washington, D.C. : Government Printing Office, 1976), pp. 143, 213, and 228. 2 The labor force participation rate of wives who had children under 6 years old doubled from 18 percent in 1960 to 37.4 percent In 1976: at the sam.e time the labor force partici- pation rate of all women aged 20 to 24 increased from 45 to 65 percent. U.S. Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics, Jan. 12, 1977, unpublished data: U.S. Department of Commerce, Bureau of the Census, Current Population Reports, Series P-SO, No. 29 (Wash- Ington, D.C. : Government Printing Office). The worklife expectancy at birth for a female was 22.9 years in 1970. compared with 40.1 years for the male. Howard N. Fullerton, Jr., and James J. Byrne, "Length of WTork~~ ing Life for Men and Women, 1970," Monthly Labor Review, February 1976, p. 32. (U.S. Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics.) PAGENO="0100" 92 market place are far greater than were those of her older sisters and her mother and aunts. The increase in women's labor market expecta- tions is also a major transformation in our history. The more education a woman has, the more likely she is to want to work. The increase in women's expectations is shown by t.he proportion of women going to college, the proportion of woman who are college graduates, and the shifts in majors of women currently in college. In 1974, the proportion of women 18 to 19 years of age going to college was 33 percent, after a steady rise from about 15 percent in the early 1950's. In 1974, the proportion of men 18 to 19 years of age going to college was also 33 percent, but that represented a fall from the peak of 44 percent in 1969. The drop in college enrollment by men occurred after 1969 because the labor market took a downward turn during this period after more than 10 years of steady, substantial growth. Many young men decided to seek alternative career paths in the de- pressed labor market; in contrast, young women were not deterred from their desire for upward mobility by means of a college educa- tion~ despite the depressed labor market.4 Rising expectations of young women are also shown in the changes in freshman career plans, in spite of declining labor markets. Increas- ing numbers of women~ upon entering college, plan to major in fields that have been atypical for women. The proportion of first-year col- lege women who planned to be business majors increased from 3.3 per- cent in 1966 to 8.5 percent in 1974. Similarly those young college women who said they planned to become lawyers increased from 0.7 percent of all women entering college in 1966 to 2.3 percent in 1974. The percentage of these women hoping to become doctors increased from 1.7 percent to 3.5 percent. The big changes were (a) the decrease in the proportion of young women planning to become elementary or secondary teachers, 34.1 percent in 1966 but only 11.9 percent in 1974 (a realistic view of the expected fall in demand for teachers) ; (b) the increase in the proportion planning to go into health services (in- cluding nursing but excluding doctors) from 11.9 percent in 1966 to 22.7 percent in 1974; and (c) the increase in the undecided groupS from 3.6 percent in 1966 to 12.6 percent in 1974.~ Young women who realize that the market for teachers is depressed and likely to remain so for some time apparently are moving in large numbers to health service professions, other than doctors. At least, this is their first idea. This is not surprising, given the ideas of many The data are quoted from current population surveys of the U.S. Bureau of the Census by Dr. Richard Freeman In "The Overeducated Americans" (New York City: Academic Press, 1976), pp. 33-38. He uses the data as part of the evidence he quotes to show that the work world is becoming better for women. I suggest this evidence better supports a finding that young women In the early 1970's have rising expectations that the work world will be open to permitting them to make maximum contributions in it. It also should be noted that the proportion of college graduates who are women is slowly moving upward. It was 40.2 percent in 1963-64 and 44.4 percent in i973-74. For the increase over the 10-year period, see table 237 in "Statistical Abstract of the United States, 1975" (Washington, D.C.: U.S. Department of Commerce, Bureau of the Census) and "Earned Degrees Conferred, i972-73 and 1973-74, Summary Data." NCES 76-105 (wash- ington, D.C. : U.S. Department of Health, Education, and welfare), p. 21. i Data from the American Council on Education quoted by Freeman, op. cit.. p. 40. The proportion of women enrolled in medical school increased from 6 percent in 1960 to iS percent in 1974, with the proportion of women In the first-year class in 1974 up to 22 percent. The proportion of women enrolled in law schools increased from 4 percent In 1961) to 19 percent in 1974, with the proportion of women in the first-year class Ia 1974 up to 23 percent. See John B. Parrish, "Women in Professional Training-An Update," Monthly Labor Review (November 1975), p. 50. PAGENO="0101" 93 of their parents, teachers, and counselors that the realistic vocational interest of young women should be in supportive roles and in occupa- tions requiring lower investment in human capital; nor is it surprising, given previously increasing societal needs for workers in health areas.6 IE[ealth professions other than doctors are a traditional area for em- ployment of women; 93 percent of the nurses, dieticians, and thera- pists in 1974 were women. Movement from teaching to nursing or other health professions (excluding doctors) therefore does little to break down barriers to occupational segregation by sex. The desire of women to move into law, medicine, and management does knock on those barriers. III. DOCUMENTING JOB SEGREGATION Given the sharp increase in numbers and proportion of women now employed outside the home and given the rising aspirations of women, the question then is whether there have been important shifts in the occupational distribution by sex. (1) Are women still crowded into the same "female" occupations? Yes. Sex typing of jobs is still domi- nant. (2) Is there movement of women into male-dominated fields? Yes, a little. (3) Do women have vertical mobility; have they moved into top-level positions of a given occupation and thus been able to demon- strate their ability to supervise men and to assume leadership roles? No, there is not much vertical mobility. One must therefore conclude, based on the above three factors, that occupational segregation is still very much present, in spite of legislation calling for an end to discrimi- nation based on sex. As a result, only a limited number of jobs are available to women, and college trained women tend to be seriously underemployed. The 57 occupations in which at least 100,000 women were employed in 1973 are shown in table 1. About 75 percent of all women workers were employed in these occupations. The 10 largest occupations in which more than 40 percent of all women workers were concentrated were secretary, retail trade salesworker, bookkeeper, private house- hold worker, elementary schoolteacher, waitress, typist, cashier, sewer and stitcher, and registered nurse. Of the 10 largest, women comprised 83 to 99 percent of the workers in the particular occupation, except for retail trade sales workers, where women comprised 69 percent. Of the 57 largest, women made up more than 75 percent of the employees in 31 (or more than half) of the occupations. Male employment showed much less occupational concentration. The 10 largest occupations for men employed less than 20 percent of all men workers, compared with the 40 percent noted above for the 10 occupations employing the most women. The 57 occupations with the largest number of men employed covered 52 percent of all men workers; whereas the 57 largest occupa- tions for women, as noted above, employed about 75 percent of the women.7 The expanding room for women In health service occupations may be diminished in the late 1970's by health policy developments which will result in a slowdown in hospital expansion and an improvement in wages and working conditions which will make health service jobs more attractive to white males. See Rashi Fein and Christine Bishop, "Employ- ment Impacts of Health Policy Developments, forthcoming in a special report of the National Commission on Manpower Policy, Washington, D.C. 1975 Handbook on Women Workers, pp. 89-92. PAGENO="0102" 94 TABLE 1-WOMEN EMPLOYED IN SELECTED OCCUPATIONS, 1973 ANNUAL AVERAGES Number Occupation (thousands) V/omen as per- cent of total employment Percent distribution of women Total White-collar workers - Professionol, technical workers Accountants Librarians, archivists, and curators Personnel and labor relations workers Registered nurses Health technologists and technicians Social workers Teachers, college and university Teachers, except college and university Elementary school teachers Kindergarten and prekisdergarten teachers Secondary school teachers Writers, artists, and entertainers Managers, administrators Restaurant, cafeteria, and bar managers Sales workers Hucksters and peddlers Real estate agents and brokero Sales clerks (retail trade) Clerical workers Bank tellers Billing clerks Bookkeeporo Cashiers Counter clerks (except food) Estimators and investigators (n.e.c.) File clerks Keypunch operators Payroll and timekeeping clerks Receptionists Secretaries Statistical clerks Stock clerks and storekeepers Teachers aides (except school monitors) Telephone operators Typists Blue-collar workers Craft and kindred workers 32,446 100.0 38.4 19, 681 4, 711 162 133 104 805 236 161 133 2, 038 1, 094 185 565 313 1, 590 160 2, 240 169 142 1, 551 11, 140 293 137 1, 466 909 266 164 245 230 143 431 3, 037 204 120 207 372 999 5, 244 463 60.7 14. 5 .5 . 4 . 3 2. 5 .7 .5 .4 6. 3 3. 4 . 6 1.7 1. 0 4.9 . 5 6. 9 . 5 . 4 4. 8 34.3 . 9 . 4 4.5 2.8 . s . 5 .8 . 7 . 4 1.3 9. 4 .6 .4 . 6 1. 1 3. 1 16. 2 1.4 48.7 40. 0 21. 6 82. 1 33. 7 97. 8 71. 5 60.8 27.1 69. 9 84. 5 97. 9 49. 5 33. 7 18.4 32. 4 41. 4 77.2 36. 4 69. 0 76.6 89. 9 83. 0 88.3 86.7 76. 2 49. 5 86.3 90. 9 72. 2 96.9 99. 1 68.5 25. 3 90. 4 95. 9 96.6 17. 6 4. 1 Blue collar supervisors Operatives Assemblers Checkers, examinero and inspectors (manufacturing) Clothing ironers and pressers Dressmakers and seamstresses (except factory) Laundry and dry cleaning operators (n.e.c.) Packers and wrappers (n.e.c.) Sewers and stitchers Textile operatives Nonfarm laborers Stockhandlers Service workers Private household workers Child care workers Private household cleaners and servants Service Workers (except private household) Cleaning service workers Building interior cleaners Lodging quarters cleaners Janitors and sextons Food service workers Cooks Food counter and fountain workers Waiters, waitresses, and helpers Health service workers Dental assistants Health aides and trainees (excluding nursing) Nursing aides, orderlies, and attendants Practical nurses Personal service workers Child care workers Hairdressers and cosmetologists Farm workers 109 4,482 600 377 118 131 112 420 891 240 299 130 7,008 1, 330 532 631 5, 678 707 358 195 153 2, 370 555 254 1, 082 1, 398 112 150 790 345 1, 140 342 458 514 . 3 13.8 1.8 1. 2 . 4 . 4 .3 1.3 2.7 7 .9 . 4 21.6 4. 1 1. 6 1. 9 17. 5 2. 2 1. 1 . 6 . 5 7. 3 1.7 . 8 3.3 4. 3 - 3 . 5 2. 4 1. 1 3.5 1. 1 1. 4 1.6 7. 31.4 49.7 49. 5 77. 1 96. 3 63. 3 61. 5 95. 5 56. 9 6.9 17. 3 63.0 98. 3 98. 3 98. 3 58. 1 34. 1 54. 2 95. 6 12. 6 69. 7 59.8 80. 9 82.9 87. 6 98. 2 82. 4 83. 9 96. 4 73.9 95. 5 91. 8 17.0 Source: Based on U.S. Department of Labor, "1975 Handbook on Women Workers," Bulletin 297 (Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office, 1976), pp. 89-91. PAGENO="0103" 9i5 The above statistics show that women are concentrated in selected occupations much more than men are. The concentration of women into these few selected occupations has resulted in these occupa- tions being relatively crowded, as evidenced by the relatively low wages paid in them. There is a reserve pooi of qualified women outside the labor force who would be willing to work in these female jobs if the wages were increased or conditions of work improved. Another facet of this question is the growing concentration of women in "female" jobs during the last 15 years. The 10 occupations in which most women were employed in 1973 are listed in table 2. In some oases, summary data for a broader occupational group is also given in order to permit comparisons when the detail is not avail- able. Because the data in this table are from different sources with slightly different definitions and are based on samples which are sub- ject to normal sampling error, general comparisons should be made, rather than specific ones. (Dashes are used when data are not avail- able.) Trends may be meaningful even though differences between the selected years are small. TABLE 2.-PROPORTION OF EMPLOYED WORKERS WHO WERE WOMEN IN EACH OF THE SELECTED OCCUPATIONS FOR SELECTED YEARS SINCE 1960 Occupation 19751 19742 19733 19704 19604 All occupations 39.0 38.9 38.4 37.7 32.8 Nurses, dieticians, therapists 93.1 94.4 96.0 Registered nurses 98.0 97.8 97.3 97.5 Teachers, except college 70. 6 1 69. 2 69. 9 70. 2 72. 6 Elementary school teachers 84.3 84.5 83.6 85.8 Salesworkers, retail trade 61.6 160.9 Sales clerks, retail trade 69. 4 69. 0 64. 6 63. 3 Bookkeepers 89. 2 88. 3 82. 0 83. 4 Cashiers 87.7 86.7 83.5 76.9 Secretaries, typists, and stenographers 98. 4 1 98. 4 96. 6 96. 5 Secretaries 99. 1 97. 6 97. 1 Typists 96.6 94.2 95.1 Operatives except transport 39~ 5 1 40. 4 39. 2 37. 9 35. 5 Sewers and stitchers 95. 5 93.7 94.0 Food service workers 74. 6 1 74* 7 69. 7 68. 0 67. 6 Waiters 82. 9 88. 8 86. 6 Private household workers 98. 0 1 98. 2 98. 3 96. 6 96. 4 I U.S. Dexartment of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics, "Employment and Earnings" (Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office, Janaury 1976), table 18, p. 146. Employed persons 20 yr and over; annual averages of monthly data. 2 Unless otherwise specified, 1974 data are from U.S. Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics, "Employment and Earnings" (Washintgon, D.C.: Government Pristing Office, June 1975), table 1, p. 7. Annual average of monthly data. 3 U.S. Department of Labor, "1975 Handbook on Women Workers" (Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office, 1976), pp. 89-91. Annual averages of monthly data. 4 U.S. Department of Commerce, Bureau of the Census, 1970 Census of Population, "Detailed Characteristics of the Population U.S. Summary" (Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office, 1973), table 221. Employed,persons l4yrs. old and over, pp. 718 if. As the proportion of women increased among all occupations in the last 15 years, the most numerous jobs for women remained largely, female jobs. Many of these female jobs have become even more con- centrated with women as the market expanded, as in the case of retail sales clerking, bookkeeping, cashiering. secretarial and typing work, and food service work including that of waiter. In a declining labor market, private household jobs became more highly concentrated with women. Registered nursing and elementary school teaching positions showed little change, remaining highly concentrated with women. Most of the increase in women in the labor force has been absorbed through expansion of clerical and service worker jobs, which tradi- tionally are "female" jobs. PAGENO="0104" 96 A. Slow ii[ovenwn~ I'rtto Male Do~minatecl Fields Another aspect of recent changes in occupational segregation is whether women now are being employed in fields long considered male preserves; that is, higher paid professional and managerial jobs. The question arises as to what proportion is suitable to be selected as the norm for women's participation in an occupation-SO percent, the same proportion women have of all jobs (41 percent in 1976), or a looser definition based on free choice without barriers. As long as women are in low proportions in some fields, all we need to say is that barriers should. be removed so that more women who wish to do so may move into the male-dominated fields. As long as the major clirec- tion for policy is clearly "more," we need not stop now to worry about how much more.8 Women are beginning to move slowly into male-dominated pro- fessions as shown in table 3. TABLE 3.-PROPORTION OF EMPLOYED WORKERS WHO WERE WOMEN IN SPECIFIED MALE-DOMINATED PROFESSIONS FOR SELECTED YEARS SINCE 1960 Occupation 11974 1973 `1970 `1960 All occupations 38. 9 38. 4 37. 7 32. 8 All professional, technical 40.5 40.0 39.8 38.4 Accountants 23. 7 21. 6 26. 0 16. 4 Architects ~ 2.0 Computer specialists 19. 0 19. 5 19. 6 29. 8 Engineers 1.3 1.6 .8 Engineering and science technicians 10.2 10. 9 9. 0 Lawyers and judges 7.0 4.8 3.4 Physicians, dentists 9.3 8. 5 5. 9 Religious workers 10. 1 10. 3 16. 5 Clergymen 2.9 2.3 Teachers, college and university 30.9 27. 1 28. 4 23. 7 1U5. Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics, "Employment and Earnings," (Washington, D.C., Government Printing Office, June 1975), table 1, p. 7. Annual average of monthly data. 2 U.S. Department of Lnbor, "1975 Handbook on Women Workers," Bulletin 297, (Washington, D.C., Government Print- ing Office 1976) pp. 89-91. Annual averages of monthly data. o U.S. Department of Commerce, Bureau of the Census, 1970 Census of Population, "Detailed Characteristics of the Population, U.S. Summary," (Washington, D.C., Government Printing Office, 1970), table 221. Employed persons 14 yr. old and over, pp. 718 ft. The proportion of women in the total for all professional fields is highly influenced by the concentration of women in the high employ- ment areas of primary school teachers and nurses. In the specific pro- fessional areas that traditionally have been male dominated, more women are being employed as accountants in 1974 than in 1960. Simi- larly, the proportion of women employed as college and university teachers has increased. Smaller gains have been made in law anci medi- cine since 1960. Extremely small gains have been made in engineering, with possible regression since 1970. The proportion of all women college graduates working in profes- sional occupations fell from 81 percent in 1969 to 69 percent in 1974. This drop was related to the reduced chance of getting a teaching job in secondary or elementary schools; this reduced chance fell from 49 percent in 1969 to 43 percent in 1974.° Women have also been moving slowly in the last 15 years into man- agement positions, but there is still a long way to go as shown in table 4. °Kenneth B. Boulding and Barbara B. Reagan, "Guidelines To Obviate Role Prejudice and Sex Discrimination," American Economic Review (December 1973), p. 1050. O Richard Freeman, OP. cit., p. 171. PAGENO="0105" 97 Interpretation of the data on women in management is clouded by the fact that a higher proportion of women than men counted in the man- agement category serve as supervisors, rather than true managers. Furthermore, the earnings and promotion possibilities of managers are related to the size and market power of their firms. Women managers may be less likely than men to be with the larger, more powerful firms. Sharp increases have been made in the employment of women in such positions as bank officials and financial managers. The market has expanded from about 24,000 such jobs in 1960 to over 300,000 in 1970 and to over 500,000 in 1974, an increase that is related to the growth in branch banking. The growth of women's proportion of such em- ployment from about 9 percent in 1960 to 21 percent in 1974 is one of the sharpest changes observed. Women also gained in positions such as sales manager and department head in retail trade a.s the number of such jobs grew. TABLE 4.-PERCENT OF EMPLOYED PERSONS WHO ARE WOMEN IN SELECTED MANAGER JOBS BY YEARS Occupation 1 1974 2 1973 1970 960 All occupations 38.9 38.4 37.7 32.8 Managers and administrators except farm 18. 5 18. 4 16. 5 14. 7 Bank officials, financial managers 21. 4 19. 4 17. 6 8. 7 Buyers and purchasing agents 24. 9 25. 1 Buyers, wholesale and retail trade 36. 3 29. 5 35. 5 Health administrators 44. 6 75. 1 Officials, Administrators; public administration; n.e.c 20. 8 19. 1 17. 4 Restaurant, cafeteria, bar managers 33. 9 32. 4 34. 1 32. 5 Sales managers, department heads, retail trade 32. 4 28. 9 23. 8 23. 4 Sales managers except retail trade 3.5 <.1 School administrators 27. 8 29. 0 26. 5 25. 6 College 23. 5 30. 7 Elementary and secondary 27. 1 25. 0 1 U.S. Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics, "Employment and Earnings" (Washington, D.C., Government Printing Office, June 1975), table 1, p. 7. Annual average of monthly data. 2 U.S. Department of Labor, "1975 Handbook on Women Workers," Bulletin 297 (Washington, D.C., Government Printing Office, 1976), pp. 89-91. Annual averages of monthly data. 3 U.S. Dopartment of Commerce, Bureau of the Census, 1970 Census of Population, "Detailed Characteristics of the Population U.S. Summary," (Washington, D.C., Government Printing Office, 1970), table 221. Employed persons 14 yrs. old and ov,er, pp. 718 ft. Health administration is another occupational group with tremen- dous growth from 1960 to 1970; the number of jobs grew from about 7,000 to 84,000. In this group of jobs, however, men were employed in such large numbers that the proportion of women managers decreased from 75 percent of the. health administrators to 45 percent in the 10- year period. Women also lost ground from 1960 to 1974 as buyers in wholesale and retail trade, as well as college administrators from 1960 to 1970. Although not considered a separate occupational category, the num- ber of women who are on the boards of large corporations is related to women's role in management. Data on the relative number of board positions held by women is incomplete. A listing of the women inem- bers of the boards of directors of 237 corporations in the United States was made by Business and Society Review in the winter issue of 1975- 76.10 It was noted that appointment of women to boards of directors was just a trickle in 1972 and prior years, but increased more rapidly thereafter. Eighty of the women listed were appointed in 1975. Over 10 (No author). "Who Are the Women in the Board Rooms," a survey, Business and Society Review, No. 16 (winter 1975-76), p. 5. PAGENO="0106" 98 the years, a few women were appointed to corporate boards because of family relationships to the men who founded or owned the busi- nesses. Now additional women are being asked to serve because of their own accomplishments and knowledge. As company leaders begin to think about adding women as directors, they have a tendency to select women who already sit on another board, as indicated in table ~. TABLE 5.-WOMEN IN CORPORATE BOARDS Number of Numbor of Number cf women directors corpora- tioss directors positrons Total 207 237 26 Women on more than 1 board 36 91 Women with family affiliation to founder or president 37 34 38 Boards with 2 to 4 women directors 21 46 Boards with 1 or more worsen who do not have family affiliation to founder or president 203 Women on 1 or more boards and who do not have family affiliation to founder or president 170 Source: With thanks to Dr. Alva Clutts, School of Business Administration, Southern Methodist University, for making these counts from the directory listing in Business andSociety Review (Winter, 1975-76), and bringing thom to my attention. Of the 237 corporations who have a.t least one woman director, only 203 have women who are not related to the founder or president and only 170 women hold these positions. Obviously there should be more opportunity in the board rooms of many corporations for women with skills and experience to make a contribution. B. Vertical Mobility Once a woman has trained for a male-dominated field and obtained employment in an entry level position, occupationai segregation by sex still exists unless women have vertical mobility comparable to that of men. In part, this is a function of on-job-training opportunities. Employers with limited perceptions as to women employees' promot- ability will be reluctant to make on-job-training opportunities avail- able to them. Women may be excluded from informal networks. Sex discrimination can take many subtle forms that slow or deter women's progress up the professional or managerial ladder. It is not enough for counsellors to urge a young woman to feel free to train for entry into a male-dominated field if her interests lie in that field. Active support systems, and attitudinal changes must also be made available if she is to have equal opportunity in the male-domi- nated profession or occupation. Many of the "female" occupations have extremely limited channels for promotion. Many occupations have been fragmented into specific. tasks requiring pre-employment training. Specific training for clerical or service tasks leads to permanent typecasting. Licensing and accredi- tation keep work groups separated and without promotional possibili- ties. For example, nurses' aides do not learn on the job how to be nurses; they have to attend school to do so. About two~thirds of all johs in New York City municipal hospitals do not have educational or training requirements for entry, but neither do they have promo- tional possibilities. Even in industries where promotional ladders are common. certain jobs were traditionally isolated. An example of particular interest involves telephone op- PAGENO="0107" 99 erators. The American Telephone and Telegraph Co., in agreeing to affirmative action for enhancing equal employment opportunity, now provides for exit from this job by removing sex as a barrier to horizontal or vertical mobility. Since the plan cannot, however, create experience linkages between the operator job and other jobs, the company has to train the operators who move into craft jobs as if `they were newly hired. The point is important because it illustrates how closely the conditions for market protection are rela;ted to jobs rather than to the people who fill them. Equal opportunity as a strategy tends to increase the pool of eligibles in compe- titi'on for the `better j'obs, but i;t does not make good jobs out of poo'r ones." A study of labor market changes `between 1960 and 1970, from which the `above quotation was excerpted, arrives at the following conclu- sion: Among 270 labor market segments in the occupational-industry matrix, only 38' had a considerable proportion of their jobs so ~or- ganized as to make possible promotion based on on-job training. The 38 occupation-industry segments were composed primarily of manag- ers and sales people in finance, insurance, and real estate; professional, technical, and craft workers in public administration; professional workers in manufacturing and trade; managers in wholesale manufac- turing, construction, agriculture, retailing, other consumer services, education, health, restaurants, and utilities; and craft workers in man- ufacturing, transportation, utilities, and other consumer services. These ~occupation-industry groups were among the higher paying groups. They provided only 11 percent of all jobs in 1960, but cx- pande~d to cover 16 percent of all jobs in 1970. The increase occurred primarily in public administration. Manufacturing and utilities had relatively declining employment from 1960 to 1970. These 38 segments with strong internal promotion ladders were not occupation-industry groups with many women employees.12 If the occupational groups in the above.'st.udy were divided into cate- gories based on average annual earnings, women would be concen- `tiated in three of the four lowest paid categories, as of 1970. The `pro- portion of women falling in the three lowest paid categories ranged from 65 to 76 `percent. T'he earnings ratios for these. low-paid groups ranged from 43 to 78 percent of the average earnings of all the groups. Perhaps most discouraging of all, the dominance of women in these three low-paid categories had increased from 1960 to 1970. The occu- pati'ons in these groups were primarily office and nonoffice clerical work in manufacturing, nondurable retailing, finance, insurance, *real estate and `some service industries; technical work in health and product services; sales work in nondurable retailing; and serv- ice work in education, restaurants, and other consumer service in'dustries.13 Women `are subjected to typecasting in the labor market. The'y have limited occupational mobility, either horizontal or vertical. Conscious- ness of their occupational segregation is being raised, but `harriers to their progress still exist. IV CAUSES OF JOB SEGREGATION Why does occupational segregation by sex persist? Why are women continuing to enter traditional jobs for women instead of being hired in nontraditional jobs? Clearly, more women entering into traditional ~` Marcia Fredman, "Labor Markets: Segments and Shelters," Landmark Studies (Mont- clair, N.J. : Allenheld, Orman & Co., 1976), pp. 42 and 43. 12 Ibid., pp. 42 and 72. 13 Ibid., pp. 21, 71-73. PAGENO="0108" 100 jobs makes it even more difficult to reduce barriers to employment of women in nontraditional jobs because of the continually larger num- bers involved. Until sizable numbers of women throughout the econ- omy-in business, universities, and Government-hold leadership and executive positions with policymaking responsibilities~ occupational segregation by sex and sex discrimination will not be eliminated. The total economy and the society as a whole will be the loser, as well as the women and families involved. White men gain when they can restrict entry to their jobs, but women lose more than white men gain; thus society suffers a net loss. Part of the explanation for discrimination must lie outside the field of economics; some employers continue to discriminate against women, even when it is in their economic interest to hire women for non-tra- ditional positions. Some employers will not hire women in top-level positions even when women are "good buys"-that is, a woman who is currently under-employed in relation to her training and experience could be hired and her work upgraded with only a reasonable increase in pay. Economic inentives to the e~nployer have not been enough to open up opportunities to more than a few highly qualified women. Recent new laws against sex discrimination in employment are now on the books. However, lack of enforcement, slowness of judicial proc- esses, subtle but strong retaliation against people who raise individual discrimination oases for discussion and judgment, the attitude of those in power that these issues are not serious all have tended to negate the effectiveness of antidiscrimination legislation. Only the persistent pressure of women activists has kept antidiscrimination measures alive. Recent efforts to end university obligation to enforce antisex discrimination measures represent a case in point of continuing pres- sure to undo even limited progress-a negative precedent if these ef- forts were to prevail. Until our society finds ways to show that sex discrimination will not be tolerated, and powerful political leaders do more than make token appointments of a few women, the waste `of occupational segre- gation `will `persist. There are many `reinforcing and interlocking factors ca.using occu- pationa.l segregation by sex to persist. First., there is the cumulative effect `of past discrimination. There is outright discrimination against individual women of skill and ability'. There is also backlash, particu- larly today, from men who feel very insecure when women in the work world are in positions that are not subordinate to them. Most impor- tant numerically is the narrow perception that many men in positions of power have of the potential of women in the work world. Such men never think of women for management, executive, and leadership posi- tions. These narrow attitudes are supported by institutions throughout our culture which have long `and deep historical roots.14 They are based on attitudes that (1) woman's Primary role is in the home, (2) her attachment to the labor force is temporary or secondary to the home, (3) she is interested only in intermittent work to meet rising costs in periods of inflation, or to earn just "pin money." The recent expec- tations of women who have been entering the labor force attest to the 14 For detailed analysis, see Martha Blaxall and Barbara B. Reacan. editors. "Women in the Workplace. the Implications of Occupational Segrgation' (Chicago: ITniversity of Chicago Press, 1976). PAGENO="0109" 101 opposite view. Many women are serious about their careers and their work role potential. They are interested in making the grcates.t pos- sible economic contribution to their families 15 as well as to the produc- tivity of society. Women are dismayed at the negative attitudes,16 the institutional barriers, the waste involved when they are not permitted to develop their careers fully after investing in their human capital. Many top male executives are completely blind to the sex discrimi- nation involved in occupational segregation. They are so imbued with the rightness of the view that men should be in all the top positions that underutilization of women employees is beyond their current un- derstanding. Even calling the issue to their attention may not result in immediate awareness. It takes repeated efforts and often personal involvement through wives and daughters before real insight occurs. This blindness is not limited to older men, nor to business leaders. Some political leaders, even relatively young ones, also lack insight, despite the fact that politicians should be particularly sensitive to cur- rent trends in women's role potential. Recently, a business executive was quoted in the press as saying that he asked his secretary if she felt discriminated against because of her sex. She said, "Of course not." As a form of proof, this is analogous to the Southern planter in the early 1930's who asked his black sharecropper if he liked his position. The answer was, "Yes, sir, Boss, and I appreciate it." The increased awareness of many men in power positions of the moral wrong and economic inefficiencies in racial discriminat~~ion has provided a strong basis for extending and widening their view of the role potential of women. The surprise to women is the slow rate at which employers' views have changed and sex discrimination has ended. Women are also surprised at the strength of the backlash against women moving into higher positions, even though the move- ment is so infinitesimal. Male executives today often fear "reverse discrimination" when in fact women really are not going anywhere in the top echelons. Exami- nation of a business, government agency, or university may reveal this. Unless a male superior supports and pushes a female so as to open op- portunities for her, she does not go very far up the ladder. Men think nothing of a male executive supporting and pushing a male protege. But when the protege is a woman of talent and skill, many men see this as undue favoritism, instead of a simple normal protege situation. Some of the resistance against opening opportunities for women to move up the executive ladder in the world of work comes from men who themselves feel insecure and indeed are inadequate as managers. Unfortunately, in our culture there are still men who are unable to deal with women at work in positions other than subordinate ones. They are not willing to see women move into positions where in the future they might conceivably compete with them or their close male colleagues. In the world of work, efficiency ratings are commonplace. It is time, in my opinion, to rate an executive on his ability to work with women and his willingness to open opportunities for them at top levels. If he 15 This is not a new attitude for women. It is just that the means have changed. ~ A male colleague of mine cuips that the reason occupational segregation by sex persists is simple-the cost of a sex modification operation is so high. PAGENO="0110" 102 is unable to handle this, his management ability shouki be appropri- ately downgraded. As with racial discrimination at work, inner feel- ings do not have to be monitored; actions do! V Coxc*r~siox Ecoxo3IIc FORCES AFFECT SEGREGATION The future effect of efforts to end sex discrimination and reduce sex role stereotypes in the workplace may well depend on the general health of the economy and its growth rate, as well as on the strength of agents of change. Merely opening entry level positions in atypical fields for women, although useful, will not solve the problem. The policy of using women only when the economy needs them, and the blindness to role potential of women can easily block advancement of new en- trants. Concurrent movement of women in top level executive posi- tions and into the corporate board rooms is also necessary. At. this point, the potential competition of women with men for top level jobs is very threatening to men. It is particularly threatening if the growth of the eèonomy and thus the increase in the number of executive level jobs is low. Differing growth rates for the. overall economy suggest different scenarios. If labor markets expand .through the second half of the 1970's, the rising expectations of women and the. movement of women into the labor market may well shift former patterns and reduce barriers to women in the workplace. On the other hand~ if labor markets remain depressed through tile second half of the 1970's, the rising expectations of women workers may well come into sharp conflict with the realities of occupational segregation and tile barriers to their occupational mo- bility. At least two alternate outcomes are possible witii depressed la- bor markets. The ensuing conflict between women's expectations and the barriers t.o their occupational mobility may be enough to change the previously e~ta.blislled equilibrium and to open greater opportu- nities for women. Such movement may be small. Nevertheless, a small amount of movement may be large enough t.o ease social tensions, even though full productivity gains are not realized. An even more likely scenario in a slow economy with relatively `high unemployment ra.tes would be increased rigidities in occupational seg- regation by sex and decreased opportunities for women. This could be a reaffirmation of the old view that women are secondary workers in the labor market and male heads of families receive priority in em- ployment. Economic forces will be a major determinant of the future opportunities for women. PAGENO="0111" WOMEN WORKERS, NONTRADITIONAL OCCUPATIONS AND FULL EMPLOYMENT By BEAnUCE G. REUBENSe AND EDWIN P. REUBENS *~ CONTENTS Page 1. Introduction 103 A. "Reserve" supply of women workers and labor demand.. - - -- 104 B. Some major questions 105 II. Nontraditional jobs: Concepts and measurement.. 106 III. Female penetration into non-traditional occupations since 1960 108 A. Measures used 109 B. Effect of recession 111 C. Substantial female penetration and total employment growth 111 D. Highest degree Of substantial female penetration 114 E. Female growth areas without substantial female penetration.. - 115 F. Women's job growth versus men's job growth - 116 G. Summary of female penetration into male intensive jobs_ - - - 116 H. Men at lower educational/occupational levels 117 IV. The view from the shop floor and the office 117 A. Racial differences in job distribution among women 118 B. Importance of job satisfaction 119 C. Influence of marital and family status 119 D. Effect of working conditions 120 E. Vertical mobility in office settings 120 V. Earnings 121 \TJ* Policy objectives and options 122 I. INTRODUCTION The concept of full employment embraces the qualitative as well as the quantitative satisfaction of job needs. A full employment policy must therefore offer not only more jobs to accommodate all who wish and `are able to take paid work; it must also offer a wider variety of jobs and a greater access to the higher level positions in the occupa- tional hierarchy than are now available to women and other groups whose opportunities have been limited `by societal factors. Occupa- tional barriers which thwart the full utilization of capacities are anti- thetical to a full employment program and costly to individuals and the Nation. In turn, progress toward achieving the quantitative and qualitative goals of full employment is likely to stimulate. the labor force partici- pation of women, accelerating the long-run upward trend and possibly establishing higher ultimate participation rates than might prevail without sustained full employment. Research on tile labor force be- havior of women, especially married women, has established that ris- * Senior Research Associate, Conservation of Human Resources, Columbia University, New York. **Professor of Economics, City College of the City University of New York, N.Y. (103) PAGENO="0112" 104 ing numbers of job opportunities are associated with increases in f e- male labor force participation rates.' A. "Reserve" 1S'upply of Women lVorkers and Labor Demand Beyond the absorption of the discouraged or hidden unemployed such as occurs in a recovery period of the business cycle.,2 sustained full employment would draw on the labor reserve of women who cur- rently regard themselves as outside the labor market.3 Some indication of the size of the female labor reserve is given in 1970 census data on labor force participation rates for females aged 16 and over within each State, subdivided into the urban, rural nonfarm, and rural farm population. A wide disparity of female participation rates emerges from this tabulation, and the chief, but not sole, cause appears to be differences in the local availability of jobs. Support for this interpre- tation arises from the fact that male participation rates within the same geographical breakdown. also were widely dispersed in approxi- mately the same pattern, although male rates were all conisistently higher than female rates. The latter ranged from a low of 17.3 percent in the rural farm areas of North Dakota to a. high of 55.9 percent iii the totally urban District of Columbia. The other low female partici- pation rates, not exceeding 24 percent, occurred in the rural farm areas of West Virginia, South Dakota., and Louisiana, while the other high rates were all in urban areas, and were highest in Alaska, Hawaii, and North Carolina, where the urban rates were 51.4, 50.3, a.nd 48.8 percent respectively.4 One of the ways to measure the gap in jobs for women, which a full employment polic~~ would have to fill, is to postulate that the female labor force participat.ion rates established in the highest areas would prevail all over the country if a full-employment volume of jobs were available. For example, a female participation rate of per- haps 50 percent under full employment in 1970 (instead of the 1970 actual rate of 41.4 percent) would have resulted in a female labor force (aged 16 and over) 6.4 million larger than the actual 30.5 mil- lion in 1970, of whom 1.6 million were unemployed at census time.& The total deficit of female jobs thus would have been 8 million. In fact, a female labor force participation rate of 50 percent is forecast by the BLS for 1985 in projections issued in 1976.6 Judging by past 1 G. B. McNally, "Patterns of Female Labor Force Activity," Industrial Relations (May 1967) T. A Finegan, "Participation of Married Women in the Labor Force." in C. B. Lloyd, ed., "Sex, Discrimination, and the Division of Labor" (New York: Columbia LTniver_ sity Press, 1975) ; J. Mincer, "Labor Force Participation and Unemployment: A Review of Recent Evidence," in R. A. Gordon and M. S. Gordon, editors, "Prosperity and Unemploy- ment" (New York: Wiley, 1966) ; A. Tella, "The Relation of Labor Force to Employment," Industrial and Labor Relations Review (April 1964). 2 N. S. Barrett, "The Economy Ahead of Us: Will Women Have Different Roles ?" in J. M. Kreps, editor, "Women and the American Economy: A Look to the 1980's' (Engle- wood Cliffs: Prentice-Hall, 1976), p. 156; New York Times, Sept. 12, 1976. "Women Enter- ing Job Market at an `Extraordinary' Pace"; U.S. Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics, news release (Sept. 15, 1976), "The U.S. Labor Force in 1990: New Projections." `C. G. Gellner, "Enlarging the Concept of a Labor Reserve." Monthly Labor Review (April 1975) : A. D. Butler and C. 0. Demopoulos, "Labor Force Behavior in a FoIl- Employment Economy." Industrial and Labor Relations Review (April 1972) ; N. J. Simler and A. Telln. "Labor Reserve and the Phillips Curve," Review of Economics and Statistics (February 1968) ; W. Vroman, "The Labor Reserve: A Reestimate," Review of Economics and Statistics (October 1970). U.S. Bureau of the Census, 1970 Census of Population. "General Social and Economic Characteristics, U.S. Summary" (Washington, D.C., Government Printing Office, 1973), PC (1)-Cl. table 1d3. `Ibid., table 90. U.S. Departmeiit of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics, news release (Sept. 15, 1976)~ "The U.S. Labor Force in 1990 * * s," table 1. PAGENO="0113" 105 outdating of such projections,~it is likely that this participation rate will be reached before 1985 even in the absence of full employment. Our calculation of the female labor reserve may exaggerate the available female labor supply by assuming too great a uniformity across geographical areas in the characteristics and situation of the female population and in their potential responses to job opportu- nities. On the other hand, no allowance is made in this calculation for the stimulatory effects of quantitative full employment on female labor force participation rates in all areas, including those where the rates are now highest. Such a quantitative projection also omits entirely the potential boost to female participation rates which might result from a wider choice of jobs and access to the better-paid jobs as an inherent component of a full employment policy.7 Little is known about the ways in which a greater penetration of women into male- dominated occupations would affect female participation rates, since the major impacts might be on women already in the labor force. On the demand side, the difficulty of achieving full employment in various parts of the country is suggested by projections of employ- ment growth by regions for 1970-85; the range in growth rates is from a low of 21 percent in New England to 38 percent in the Far West.8 It is clear that a full employment policy would require pro- grams to meet geographical variations in both the number of jobs available and the number of jobs desired. In the same way, projec- tions of the occupational composition of employment in the years ahead reveal disparities between the likely developments in job open- ings and the preparation and desires of both men and women for entry jobs and for posts on an upward mobility track.° Here again fine tuning may be necessary in the full employment program. In short, a combination of the quantitative and qualitative aspects of full employment policy implies a dynamic interplay between the supply and demand sides such that a stable full employment equilibriun'i is unlikely to be reached. Instead the best to be hoped for is a moving approximation in which the gap between demand and supply is minimized. B. Some Major Questions The challenge to policy is complex. Can enough jobs be created for all who would want them under the expansive conditions of full em- ployment? Can enough attractive jobs be created to satisfy both men and women? Is the opening of more nontraditional jobs to women workers through occupational desegregation a sufficient measure to achieve equality with men? How adequately does an occupational desegregation policy meet the needs of various subgroups of women, especially those with low educational attainment and occupational status? Do black women have special perceptions of the issue? Finally, F. D. Weisskoff (Blau), "`Women's Place' in the Labor Market," Proceedings, American Economic Association (May 1972), p. 165; E. James, "El7ects of Women's Liberation," in C. B. Lloyd, op. cit., pp. 387-391, app. 15.2. 8 L. A. Lecht, "changes in Occupational Characteristics: Planning Ahead for the 1980's" (New York: The Conference Board, 1976), table 2.3. Lecht, op. cit., pp. 16-21, 39-41; J. L. Norwood. "Norwood and the workplace" Signs (spring 1976 supplement), pp. 278-281 : M. F. Crowley, "Professional Manpower: The Job Market Turnaround," Monthly Labor Review (October 1972) ; Neil Rosenthal and Hall Dillon. "Occupational Outlook for the Mid-1980's," Occupational Outlook Quarterly (win~ ter 1974) H. Wool, "Future Labor Supply for Lower Level Occupations," Monthly Labor Review (March 1976) ; J. N. Hedges. "Women Workers and Manpower Demands in the 1970's," Monthly Labor Review (June 1970). 91-686-77---- S PAGENO="0114" 106 can an occupational desegregation poiicy be framed entirely in terms of the needs of women, omitting a corresponding movement for men? In this context, the discussion of women and nontraditional jobs will begiii with concepts, definitions, and measurement. It is fol- lowed by a detailed review of changes in women's penetration of the male-intensive occupations from 1960 to the present., including a discussion of earnings and subgroups of women. The final section considers the policy issues surrounding increased female access to nontraditiona.l jobs in relation to a. full employment policy. II. N0NTuADITIONAL ,JoBs: CONCEPTS AND MEASUREMENT Nontraditional occupations for women are not a fixed category. but vary over time and from place to place. For most purposes, non- traditional jobs at. any given time may be defined as those in which women form a considerably smaller proportion of the workforce than t.heir current share of the total employed population. In the work settings where most women are employed, it is cus- tomary to make occupationa.l distinctions which label certain jobs nontraditional for women.'° Whether or not the workplace is simply a replica of the social relationships of men and women in all other aspects of life, the reslTlt of job labeling within the firm has been to place men higher than women in the job hierarchy. as measured by status and salary levels, to give men supervisory roles over women at work, and to reserve for men most of the upward mobility within the enterprise. Questions of differential access to the higher ranks within an organization arise even where there is a gender-neutral occupation, such as secondary school teaching. From a. broader per- spective, girls are seen as receiving signals from society from an early a.ge that male intensive occupations are not suitable for females. There is thus both a horizontal and a vertical aspect to the restrictions of women because of male-dominated occupations. The former involves limitations on original choice and preparation for an occupation. choice of firm, job assignment, and job changes. The latter concerns rest.ricted upward mobility within the work organization or into more prestigious or better-paying firms. This separation of men's work from women's has been sufficiently pervasive and observable, even in the inadequate national occupa- tional data, t.o produce numerous theoretical forays into the causes and process. Drawing on the insights of one or more academic disci- plines, the resulting theories have yielded a welter of views, not always consistent with one another. The divergenc.ies among econ- omists are notable, as recent reviewers of the literature indicate.'1 Empirical efforts also have been macic to measure occupational dif- ferences between men and women, and to establish the trends over time, using a variety of indexes. One of the measures concerns oc- cupational concentration by sex, showing the number of occupations in which a given proportion of the labor force of each sex is found. While 1~ H. T. Schrank and J. W. Riley, Jr., "Women in Work Organizations," in J. M. Kreps, op. cit. 11 F. D. Blau and D. L. Jusenius, "Economists' Approaches to Sex Segregation in the Labor Market: An Appraisal." Signs (spring 1970 supplement) : C. B. Lloyd. "The Divi- sion of Labor Between the Sexes," in Lloyd, op. cit.; J. F. Madden, "Economic Dimensions of Occupational Segregation: Comment III," Signs (spring 1976 supplement) H. Kahne and A. I. Kohen, "Economic Perspectives on the Roles of Women In the American Econ- omy," Journal of Economic Literature (December 1975), pp. 1256-1262. PAGENO="0115" 107 occupational concentration appears to have diminished over the years for women, men are still distributed more widely than women over oc- cupations, even after allowance is made for the larger number of men in the labor force.12 Another measure focuses on the occupational dis- similarity between men and women. Called an index of occupational segregation by some analysts, this measure has shown little change over the years in the prevalence of a high degree of sex-labeling of occupations.13 Measures which identify male and female intensity of the detailed occupations are another way of assessing the trend in female pene- tration of nontraditional jobs. By all accounts, the proportion of women in male-intensive occupations has changed little since 100. While the progress registered from 1960 to 1970 was small, it sug- gests a trend toward greater penetration by each sex into nontradi- tional occupations.14 A rather staggering figure can be extracted from the Bergmann-Adelman basic calculations on the distribution of men and women in male intensive occupations. If women had been repre- sented in these occupations according to their proportion of the whole employed population, it would have been necessary to shift more than 10 million women into the male intensive occupations. By the same token, over 10 million men would have had to take up female interi- sive occupations in order to redress the balance in that sector and to find jobs in the 1970 economy.15 Another way of looking at sex polarization is by a tabulation of the occupations rather than their total employment. Depending on the base year chosen, the results tend to conform to those for employ- ment.'6 On the whole, the various measures cited here confirm that some slight changes have occurred since 1960 in the occupational dis- tributions of both men and women, tending toward a reduction in the segregation. Some find the existence of occupational separation of either sex offensive in itself. But for most, the objections to the existence of male intensive occupations arise from the evidence that men have higher rates of pay and total earnings than women. Consequently much of 12 V. K. Oppenheimer, "The Sex Labeling of Jobs," Industrial Relations (May 1973: D. Sommers, "Occupational Rankings for Men and Women by Earnings," Monthly Labor Review (August 19714), pp. 50-51; J. N. Hedges, op. cit., p. 19; `Manpower Report of the President, 1974," p. 107; M. H. Stevenson, "Relative wages and Sex Segregation by Occupation," in C. B. Lloyd, op. cit., pp. 182-187: \T K. Oppenheimer. "The Female Labor Force in the United States: Demographic Factors Governing Its Growth and Changing Composition" (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1970). 13 B. Gross, "Plus ca Change * * *? The Sexual Structure of Occupations Over Time," Social Problems (fall, 1968)) ; F. D. Blau, "Sex Segregation of Workers by Enterprise in Clerical Occupations," in R. C. Edwards, M. Reich, and D. M. Gordon, editors, "Labor Market Segmentation" (Lexington, Mass.; D. C. Health, 1975), pp. 257-278; Council of Eco- nomic Advisers, "Economic Report of the President" (1973), p. 155; R. U. Oaxaca, "Some Observations on the Economics of Women's Liberation," Challenge (July/August 1976), p. 32. 14 V. K. Oppenheimer, "The Sex Labeling of Jobs." pp. 219-221: H. zeuner, "The Determinants of Occupational Segregation," in C. B. Lloyd, op. cit., p. 126; R. D. Ifoderick and J M. Davis. "Correlates of Atypical Job Assignment" (Columbus: Center for Human Resource Research, the Ohio Stnte University. 1972) ; B. Bergmann and I. Adelman, "The 1973 Report of the President's Council of Economic Advisers: The Eco- nomic Role of Women." American Economic Review (September 1973), table 1; F. D. Blau, "Sex Segregation -," op. cit., p. 257; C. L. Jusenlus, "Occupational Change," "Dual Careers: A Longitudinal Study of Labor Market Experiences of Women," vol. 3, p. 22 (Washington: Department of Labor, Manpower Administration, R. & D. Monograph 21, 1975). Th Bergmann and Adelman, op. cit., table 1. 1O M. K. Freedman, "Labor Markets: Segments and Shelters" (Montclair: Allanheld, Osmun, 1976), p. 87; J. L. Laws, "Psychological Dimensions of Women's Work Force Participation," in P. A. Wallace, editor, "Some New Perspectives on Equal Employment Opportunity and the A.T. c~ T. Case" (Cambridge: MIT Press, 1975). PAGENO="0116" 108 the theoretical and empirical work has centered on explanations of these sex differences in earnings.'7 Some studies maintain that the exclusion of women from male-dominated occupations is less respon- sible for wage rate and earnings differences than is unequal pay within occupations, as they a.ie classified in national data. Other studies acknowledge the effects of simultaneous forces tending toward higher earnings for men.'8 Whatever the theories and studies have shown in their disputatious presentations, public policy has been clear in its assumptions and goals. Responding to one of the strongest and clearest ievolutions of rising expectations of this century, as embodied in the Women's Move- ment, Government action to permit increased entry of women into nontraditional jobs has been expressed in several pieces of legisla- tion, notably the Equal Pay Act of 1963, title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, and title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972, in affirmative action measures, in the Federal Contract Compliance pro- gram (Executive Order 11246 as amended by Executive Order 11375 in 1967), and in such actions as the Department of Labor's sponsor- ship of a specific program in suburban New York to train women for nontraditional jobs. State and local equal opportunity and human rights legislation and commissions also have been established. With- out prejudging the efficacy of these measures which had little impact by 1970, we proceed to a detailed analysis of female penetration of male intensive occupations, drawn chiefly from census data which are comparable for 1960 and 1970. III. FEMALE PENE1~ATION INTO NoN-Th~DITIoNAL OCCUPATIONS SINcE 1960 In 1960 about 2.7 million women were employed in male intensive occupations, and these in turn accounted for over 60 percent of all employment. ~\Tomen in male intensive occupations constituted a small minority, 13.5 percent, of all women workers. (Table 1). They also accounted for only about 7 percent of total employment in the male intensive occupations at a time when women comprised 33 percent of all workers. Ten years later the 1970 census showed (table 1) just over 4 million women in the male intensive occupations, which ac- counted for 56 percent of all employment. Women in male intensive occupations constituted 15 percent of all women workers, only a little above the 1960 share. Similarly, women accounted for 10 percent of all the workers in male intensive occupations while they were 38 per- cent of the total employment. 17 ~* Kahne and A. I. Kohen. "Economic Perspectives ...," p. 1258; see also I. v. Sawhill, "The Economics of Discrimination Against women: Some New Findings," Journal of Human Resources (summer 1973). 18 S. W. Polachek, "Discontinuous Labor Force Participation and Its Effect on womens Market Earnings," in C. B. Lloyd, op. cit., p. 118; J. T. Addison, "Sex Discrimina- tion: Some Comparative Evidence," British Journal of Industrial Relations (July 1975), pp. 293-266; B. Chiplin and P. J. Sloane, "Sexual Discrimination in the Labor Market,'~ British Journal of Industrial Relations (November 1974), pp. 77-Si. PAGENO="0117" Occupations Employment 1960 1970 Growth 1960-70 Total and Num- ber, 1960 1 Percent distri- bution Total (thou- sands) Percent distri- bution Total (thou- sands) Percent distri- bution percent distri- bution Percent change Total employment2 418 61, 455.5 72,484.8 11,029.3 17.9 Total male employment 5 418 41, 480. 0 45, 291. 1 3, 811. 1 9. 2 Total female employment 2 418 100. 0 19, 975. 5 100. 0 27, 193. 7 100. 0 7, 218. 2 36. 1 Females in male intensive occu- pations 3 266 63. 7 2, 693. 8 13. 5 4, 083. 2 15. 0 19. 2 51. 6 Very male iatensive(VMI)3___ Moderately male intensive (MMI)3 Male intensive with SFP by 1970. VMI with SEP by 1970 MMI with SEP by 1970 203 (48. 6) (789. 7) (4. 0) (1, 359. 5) (5. 0) (7. 9) 72. 2 63 (15.1) 12. 7 (1,904.1) 1, 269. 5 - (9.5) (2,723.7) 6. 3 2, 019. 4 (10.0) 7. 4 (11.3) 10. 4 43.0 59.1 (0.6) (304.0) (1.1) (2.5) 146.0 (5.7) (1,715.4) (6.3) (7.9) 49.7 Illales in male intensive occupa- tions 266 34, 746. 4 36, 806. 9 5. 9 1 The total number of detailed occupations analyzed in this study. A few were excluded. 2 14 yrs. and over. Excludes `occupation not reported." 3 Ml (male intensive) means that 75 or more percent of employment in the cccupation was male; VMI (very male in- tensive) means 90 or more percent; MMI (moderately male intensive) means 75-89 percent. 4 100 percent. a SFP (substantial female penetratiun) means a rise of 5 or more percentage points in the female share of employment in -an occupation. Source: U.S. Bureau of the Census, Census of Population, 1970, "Detailed Characteristics of the Popula- tion, PC(1)-D1, U.S. Summary." (Washington: Government Printing Office, 1973), table 221. The pace of change was more rapid in the male intensive occupa- tions than in others. But, against the goal of ending occupational segregation or achieving a share of women in each occupation equal to the share of women in the total employed population, the advance from 1960 to 1970 seems miniscule. Still, there are no guidelines on the proper, feasible or desirable rate of change in female entry to male dominated occupations. In the context of a long historical process, the 1960-70 developments may appear significant. A. Measures Used In order to analyze the changes since 1960 three measures have been used. The first two subdivide male intensity (MI) into very male intensive (VMI) and moderately male intensive (MMI). The third, measuring the degree of women's entry into male-intensive occu- pations, is called "substantial female penetration" or SFP. Male in- tensive occupations are defined as those where men held 75 percent or more of the jobs (or women held 25 percent or less) in 1960, a criterion derived from the male share of 67.2 percent in total employment. Of the 418 occupations, 266 were male intensive in 1960. (Table 1.) within this MI category, occupations with 90 percent or more male workers (203 of the 266 male intensive occupations) are designated as YMI (very male intensive). Occupations with 75-89 percent males, (63 of the 266 occupations) are called MMI (moderately male inten- sive. The next category would be gender-neutral occupations in which men and women are represented in roughly their proportions in total 109 TABLE 1.-EMPLOYMENT, ALL OCCUPATIONS AND MALE INTENSIVE OCCUPATIONS, 1960 AND 1970 53 (25) (6.0) (123.6) (28) (6.7) (1,145.9) PAGENO="0118" 110 employment; this category accounts for under one fifth of all employ- ment. Female intensive occupations complete the list. Within the MI occupations, the moderately male intensive (MMI), as compared with the VMI occupations, accounted for the greater share of employment in both 1960 and 1970. (Table 1.) While the rate of advance was higher for the YMI than the MMI, the latter's absolute growth was larger. In terms of the types of occupations in the two MI subdivisions and the progress made by women to date, the greatest challenge to female penetration lies in the V1~iI sector which contains more of the prestigious and well paid occupations. In fact, much of the anecdotal material about women who have invaded male bas- tions concerns the occasional breaching of a VMI wall, such as in coal mining, the military forces, the ministry, the Alaskan. pipeline con- struction, or State parks. In 1960 MI employment of females was predominantly blue collar and, within that group, largely centered in the lower level occupations. (Table 2.) WThile under half of the increase in MI employment from 1960 to 1970 was in the blue-collar occupations, the whole MI category in 1970 was still preclommantly blue collar. A gradual shift is evident, since two of the highest rates of increase from 1960 to 1970 were in white-collar fields. TABLE 2.-FEMALE EMPLOYMENT IN MALE INTENSIVE' OCCUPATIONS BY MAJOR OCCUPATIONAL GROUPS, 1960 AND GROWTH 1960-70 Females in MI' Female occupa- tions as percent total female employ- meat 1961) Number of Ml' occupa- tiDns 1960 employ- meat in MI' occupa- tions, 1960 (thou- sands) Growth 1960-70 (thou- sands) Percent change 1960-70 Total employment (mole plus female) 1960 Growth (thou- Per- 1960-70 sands) cest (percent) All occupations 13. 5 266 2 2, 693. 8 2 1, 389. 4 51. 6 61, 455. 5 100. 0 17. 9 Profensional, technical and kin- dred 3.2 Managers, administrators, except farm 59.7 Sales workers 15.8 Clerical and kindred workers 3. 2 Craftsmen and kindred viorkers. 77. 0 Factory operativen, except trans- port 23.0 Tranoport equipment operatives_ - 100. 0 Laborers, except farm 95.7 Farmers and farm managers 100. 0 Farm laborers and farm foremen_ 49. 8 Servrce workers, except private hounehold 4.7 Private household workers 62 34 10 13 78 28 11 14 2 3 11 0 8.2 18.4 9.7 7. 4 7.9 26.7 1. 4 6. 1 4. 4 4. 6 5.2 18.8 8.9 9.2 17. 0 14.4 16.3 6. 0 6.3 4. 0 -1. 5 8.6 118.0 24.9 49.9 118. 3 93.6 23.0 221. 8 53.2 47. 5 -17. 4 85.4 6,986.0 11.4 55.0 5, 625.8 9.2 9.1 4,637.4 7.5 13.6 9, 125. 8 14. 8 42. 8 8,944.8 14.6 11.8 8,822.2 14.4 11.3 2, 525. 9 4. 1 9. 5 3,321.8 5.4 -3.3 2, 507. 3 4. 1 -46. 4 1, 486. 3 2. 4 -37. 8 5,754.2 9.4 40.2 1, 717. 9 2. 8 36. 6 I Male intensive (MI) means that 75 or more percent of employment in the occupation was male. 2 100 percent. - Source: U.S. Bureau of the Census, Census of Population, 1970, "Detailed Characteristics of the Popula- tion, PC(1)-D1, United State Summary." (Washington, D.C., Government Printing Office, 1973), table 221. The record of women in nontraditional jobs and a measure of their advance from 1962 to 1974 areS covered to some extent in selected cur- rent population survey data on a 3-ear-to-year basis.'° Of the 441 detailed occupations reported, only 65 had sufficient consistency of ia S. H. Carfinkle, "Occupations of Women and Black Workers," Monthly Labor Review (November 1975). PAGENO="0119" 111 definition and reliability of trend to serve for analysis. And of these 65 occupations, 36 were MI, as defined here. Almost half of the latter had a more rapid rate of female penetration after 1970 than froni 1962 to 1970, while an additional four occupations proceeded at the same rate of advance as previously. Some acceleration of penetration from 1970 to 1974 therefore may be assumed. B. Effect of Recession The onset of the recession led to many woeful reports and dire pre- dictions that most women who had recently penetrated the male inten- sive occupations faced dismissal as "last in, first out." The full details will not be known for some time, but some preliminary information on employment changes from 1974 to 1975 suggests that in a number of MI occupations women fared better than men, either holding steady or increasing their total numbers in jobs as the men declined or at best held steady, while in other occupations women did no worse than men.2° Among the specific occupations where there was a more favor- able position for women than men in employment changes 1974-75 are: salaried managers and administrators (except farm), carpenters, other construction crafts, metal craft, drivers of motor vehicles, con- struction laborers, and farm managers. Another group of occupations showing women no worse off than men in the recession employment changes included: professional and technica.l (excluding health workers and noncollege teachers), sales- workers (nonretail), mechanics and repairers, craft supervisors, trans- port equipment operatives (other than vehicle drivers), nonfarm laborers (manufacturing), protective service workers, paid farm laborers. These figures need to be supplemented by more detailed data, especially for individual establishments, and government employment at all levels. At present there is no general data base to support the view that women have suffered a major setback due to the recession, regarding employment in the. nontraditional occupations. U. Substantial Female Penetration and Total Employment Growth In order to gage the growth over the decade 1960-70 of female employment within specific male intensive occupations, our measure of SFP (substantial female penetration) has been used instead of the percentage increase in female employment in individual occupations. The criterion for SFP is an increase from 1960 to 1970 of 5 or more percentage points in the female share of employment in an MI occu- pation. The choice of this criterion reflects the fact that the female share of total employment increased by 4.9 percentage points between 1960 and 1970 (from 32.8 to 37.7 percent). Since this overall increase would tend to raise the female share. by a few percentage points in many specific occupations. the fiat differential of 5 or more percentage points identifies those with above average performance. SFP by itself does not tell anything about the employment pattern for males in these occupations. 20 CalculatIons from data In S. M. St. Marie and R. W. Bednarzik, "Employment and Fnemployment Diirin~ 1975." Snecial Labor Force Report 1S5, table 15 (Washington: 15.5. Bureau of Labor StatIstics. 197~). See also a study by R. E. Smith of the Urban Institute. co renortecl In New York TImes. Nov. 2. 197G; "How Women Fared During the Recession," OECD Observer, September/October 1976. PAGENO="0120" 112 Female expansion in the 53 SFP occupations accounted for over half of the employment increase of females in all 266 Mu occupations from 1960 to 1970. The larger part of that expansion was in the 28 MM~L occupations. In fact, several occupations moved from their 1960 MMI status to gender-neutral in 1970 as a result of the. penetration by women. According to our detailed examination, almost half of all 53 MI occu- pations with SFP were concentrated in two major occupational groups: craftsmen and clerical occupations, with the professional- technical group not far behind. But in terms of absolute growth in the numbers of female workers, clericals were in first position (account- ing for nearly one-third of the whole SFP increase), professional- technical workers were second (just under one-fifth), next came opera- tives, then sales; transport and crafts each accoimted for only about 6 percent of the whole. Considerable interest is attached to the relation between the growth patterns of total employment (male plus female) and substantial fe- male penetration (SFP). The preceding discussion, focusing on the growth of female employment in MI occupations, has postponed this discussion, but now asks: Does it make a difference whether rapidly growling female employment in a giveii occupation goes in tandem with increased male employment there, or replaces male employment? In investigating the female penetration of male intensive occupations, it is important to evaluate carefully the occupations with a net decline in employment where women have nevertheless established increased shares of total employment, either through a slower net decline than men or through increases in female numbers. It has been argued in the past that such takeovers by women in declining MI occupations are precursors to forming new female intensive occupations, with all of their earnings and status problems.2' Moreover, even in such declining occupations, women do not occupy many of the positions of responsi- bility within the enterprise.22 With these points in mind, table 3 classifies the 53 detailed male intensive occupations with SFP into 4 categories, according to the rate of growth of overall employment. The result indicates that 21 of the 53 occupations and 56.8 percent of the growth in female employ- ment are associated with rapid growth occupations (30 percent or more). while another 5 occupations and 15.8 percent of the growth are accounted for by occupations whose total employment increased at rates from 17.9 (the average) to 29.9 percent. The 11 occupations whose slow growth ranged from over zero to 17.9 percent provided only 24.8 percent o-f the female employment growth. Finally, the 16 occupations which had a decline in total employment, but still registered SFP from 1960 to 1970 (either through actual increases of female employ- n National Manpower Council, womanpower (New York: Columbia University Press, 1957) D. L. Hiestand, "Economic Growth and Employment Opportunities for Minorities" (New York: Columbia University Press, 1964). H. Wilensky. "Women's Work: Economic Growth, Ideology, Structure," industrial Relations (May i968). PAGENO="0121" 113 ment, or through slower employment declines than males experienced), accounted for less than 3 percent of net female employment growth in male intensive occupations. TABLE 3.-MALE INTENSIVE OCCUPATIONS WITH SUBSTANTIAL FEMALE PENETRATION 1 1960-70, BY TOTAL GROWTH RATE OF OCCUPATIONS AND FEMALE EMPLOYMENT INCREMENT Female Distribution of female Rate of growth (male increment, employment plus female) Number of 1960-70 increment (percent) occupations (thousands) (percent) Total employment 17.9 53 749.9 100.0 All MI occupations with SFP: I Rapid growth 30. 0+ 21 426.0 56.7 Moderate growth 17.6-29.9 5 118.2 15.8 Slow growth 0-17. 8 11 185. 8 24. 8 Decline2 (3) 16 19.9 2.7 1 MI (male intensive) means that 75 or more percent of employment in the occupation wan male. SFP (substantial female penetration) means a rise of 5 or more percentage points in the female share of employment in an occupation. 2 Since "managers, not elsewhere classified, self-employed, retail," one of largest of the 16 occupations with a decline, was redefined in 1970 to count managers of incorporated family businesses as salaried, the 1960-70 change in this class may be overstated. C.B. Dicesare, "Changes in Occupational Structure of U.S. Jobs," Monthly Labor Ro~iew (March 1975). fn. 4. Negative. Source: U.S. Bureau of the Census, Census of Population, 1970. "Detailed Characteristics, PC(1)-D1, U.S. Summary" (Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office, 1973), table 221. The distribution of occupations by growth patterns is uneven. The bulk of the bluc,-collar and lower level occupations where women made large gains in their share were occupations where total male employ- ment was either declining or increasing quite slowly. Conversely, the most rapid growth category was almost entirely composed of technical- professional, managerial and clerical occupations, while the second- rank growth category with only five occupations in. it had a mix of transport, crafts, and services. The SFP occupations with overall employment decline suggest acceptance of females in shrinking or dying occupations which men no knger want. Among paperhangers, and telegraph operators, both male and female employment declined, but female dropped less than male, resulting in SFP. Contrasting with drops in male employment, female employment was stable among bootblacks, and increased among jewelers and watchmakers, shoe repairers, stonecutters, messengers, weighers, fliers and polishers, and self-employed farm laborers. A more substantial female growth occurred among bakers and compositors, where technological and organizational changes may have reduced the number of males and increased the females. The list of SFP occupations in which the overall growth of employ- ment was positive but sluggish also suggests an uncertain future-with a few exceptions, such as engineering and scientific technicians (chemi- cal) and some categories of salespersons. Among the occupations where the female share rose by 5 or more percentage points but the male growth was small are several skilled crafts: molders, upholsterers, PAGENO="0122" 114 drillers, sawyers, furniture finishers, bartenders, recreation attendants, and inspectors (scalers and graders, loggers and hmTheDers). Since craft occupations are absent from the two fast-growing SFP cate- gories, it appears that some women penetrated into categories with a small growth potential. For particula.r individuals, the movement into such occupations may represent a gain, but care should be taken in regarding such penetration as an advance for women as a group. A closer look must be taken at congratula.tory reports on erosion of sex stereotyping in crafts.23 It is significant that the crafts with a strong growth of males did not have much increase in female employment. By contrast, the rapid growth category with SFP contains such VMI (very male intensive) occupations as actuaries, operations researchers, urban and regional planners, bank officers, dental laboratory techm- cians, and other technicians (tool programers). Several of these fields are new occupations, or have developed new branches of old occupa- tions, and look for female workers, free from traditional discrimina- tion. Among the MLII (moderately male intensive) occupations in this category are accountants, college teachers (mathematics)~ designers, advertising agents, real estate agents, bill collectors, expediters, insur- ance agents, and radio operators. Several of these fields offer self- employment, or contractual arrangements on less stringent and often more lucrative terms than simple salaried employment. There also were instances of simple wage-employment namely, mail carriers, shipping clerks, postal clerks, ticket agents, and opticians (lens grinders). Con- sidering the rather high level of education/training required to enter and progress in many of the rapidly growing occupations. it can be seen than these male intensive occupations with SFP, which accounted for over half of the growth in all SFP occupations. offer openings for the better-educated women, a growing class in the labor force. D. Highest Degree of Substantial Female Penetration Table 4 shows the 21 occupations with the highest degree of SFP achievement (9 percentage points or more); 13 of these are MLII oc- cupations, repeating an earlie.r finding that the occupations in which women already hold 11-25 percent of the jobs are more likely to show further mcreases than the VMI with a female share of 10 percent or less. The 21 SFP occupations in table 4 present a mixed picture in terms of the growth rate of the occupation as a whole. Three occupa- tions with a substantial increase in the female share had a decline in total employment, and three had a slower growth of total employment than the average rate of all occupations (17.9 percent). Clearly the most favorable occupations for women were in the white-collar cate- gories, with bank managers an outstanding example. Not only were women a fast-rising share of an expanding total. but most of these exuansive occupations permit upward mobility and are relatively well- pa~d. By contrast. the "progress" of women among shoe repairers. weighers, bakers, and furniture, finishers is attributable to male rejec- tion of or ejection from such jobs. ~ .T. N. Heclres and S. R. Bemis, "Sex Stereotyping: Its Decline in Skilled Trades," Monthly Labor Review (May 1974). PAGENO="0123" 115 TABLE 4.-MALE INTENSIVE' OCCUPATIONS WITH LARGE INCREASE IN FEMALE SHARE OF EMPLOYMENT, 1960-70 Percentage Percent change point increase, in total 1960-70, in employment, Ml class' female share 1960-70 Actuaries VMI 20 71.7 Tool programers VMI 14 47.6 Technicians, not elsewhere classified VMI 18 856. 4 Accountants MMI 10 43.7 College teachers-math MMI 13 137.6 Radio operators MMI 12 60. 5 Bank officers, financial managers VMI 9 1, 195. 6 Sales-services and construction MMI 11 13. 1 Bill and account collectors MMI 16 57. 8 Expediters MMI 9 41.7 Insuranceadjusters MMI 15 71.5 Postal clerks MMI 13 30.6 Ticket agents MMI 15 33. 7 Weighers MMI 10 -8.2 Dental laboratory technicians VMI 18 78.2 Furniture finishers VMI 13 2. 9 Shoe repairers VMI 14 -24.4 Bakers MMI 12 -2.7 Engravers MMI 9 22.1 Bus drivers VMI 18 29.9 Bartenders MMI 11 1 MI (male intensive) means that 75 or more precent of employment in the occupation was male; VMI (very male in- tensive) means 90 or more percent; MMI (moderately male intensive) means 75-89 percent. Source: U.S. Bureau of the Census, Census of Population, 1970. `Detailed Characteristics, PC(1)-D1, U.S. Summary's (Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office, 1973), table 221. F. Female Growth Areas Without Substantial Female Penetration Many of the 213 MI occupations which did not show SFP had marked female growth during 1960-70 (10,000 or more additional f e- males) - And a majority of YMI occupations, starting from a small base, had a 60 percent increase or better in the number of females em- ployed; the average increase for all MI occupations was 51.6 percent. A smaller proportion of MMI occupations had an above average in- crease. The failure of women to attain SFP in these 213 occupations resulted from `a concurrent growth of male workers on top of a large male base in those occupations, many of which were expanding vigorously. Among the specific occupations showing strong female growth in the non-SFP category are some self-employed and/or high-paying fields, such as computer specialists, engineers, lawyers, scientists, physi- cians, dentists, college teachers, technicians, public relations workers, funeral directors, federal inspectors, purchasing agents, sales manag- ers, school administrators, stock and bond salesmen, and a variety of crafts. Thus, individual women may have improved their financial and career position, even though the sex-composition of these occupations did not change much or worsened. From the viewpoint of the individ- ual woman seeking to enter MI occupations, it. is of little consequence whether the female share is rising so long as jobs are open. A much more important consideration than the female share in the occupation, to which analysts pay undue obeisance., is the situation in the firm, the attitudes of management and fellow-workers, the opportunities for promotion or self-employment, and the. equality of conditions between the sexes. PAGENO="0124" 1:16 F. Women's Job Growth T7ersus Men's Job Growth Another perspective on women's penetration into the male intensive occupations is obtained by relating the growth on the women's side to that for men. The outstanding conclusion is that a fairly limited area for women's penetration exists. If all of the growth between 1960 and 1970 in these occupations had been reserved for women, about 2.1 mil- lion additional jobs, taken from men, would have been avaIlable for women (table 5). This would have left 3.7 million women with no alternative but the female intensive sector, which actually made room for 5.8 million additional women between 1960 and 1970. The slow de- velopment of the male intensive occupations. and the increase in the number of young men and women qualified to enter them, pose the most serious threat to the occupational desegregation movement. G. Sum4nary of Female Penetration Into Male Inte~sive Jobs Overall, women did not do badly in their share of the increase in male intensive employment. Their rate of growth was 51.6 percent against 5.9 percent for the men (table 1). The men garnered in the male intei~- sive fields a total of 670,000 more jobs than the females (table 5). What is significant, J~owever, is the difference between the sexes in the dis- tribution of the growth among the major occupational groups. Three comparisons stand out. First, in the male intensive occupations in the clerica.l field women made a real breakthrough, showing a larger abso- lute increase than the men in such occupations as insurance adjuster, postal clerk, dispatcher, production controller, ticket agent. This de- velopment indicates that women's penetration proceeds most rapidly in the fields where they have a strong position in related female inten- sive fields which are not cut off from the male intensive jobs by require- ments of education, training, physical characteristics, or other seg- menting influences. TABLE 5.-GROWTH OF EMPLOYMENT IN MALE INTENSIVE 1 OCCUPATIONS, BY MAJOR OCCUPATIONAL GROUPS, 1960-70. [In thousandsj Females Males Nonmale intensive-total Male intensive i-total Professional, technical and kindred Managers, administrators, except farm Sales workers 5, 828. 8 1, 389. 4 1, 750. 6 2, 060. 4 260. 7 123. 1 129. 8 1, 356.7 237. 0 236. 3 Clerical and kindred 236. 7 202. 1 Craftsmen and kindred 199. 8 843. 5 Factory operatives, except transport Transport equipment operatives Laborers, except farm Farmers and farm managers Farm laborers and farm foremen 225. 8 83. 9 88.0 -56.0 -21. 4 290. 2 156. 4 -220.7 -1,101.2 -368. 0 Service workers, except private household 119. 0 435. 1 5 Male intensive (Ml) means that 75 or more percent of employment in the occupation vias male. Source: U.S. Bureau of the Census, Census of Population, 1970, "Detailed Characteristics of the Population, PC(1)-O1, U.S. Summary" (Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office, 1973), table 221. Excludes "occupation not reported." Second, the continued increase of females in the laborer category while men show a sharp decrease, and the disproportionate female in- crease in the factory operatives group, confirm our earlier point con- PAGENO="0125" 117 cerning the creation of new female ghettos in occupations and jobs which men are leaving, voluntary or involuntarily. Third, and most important for the equality for women, the distribution of male employ- ment growth shows a high concentration in three occupational groups which include many of the best opportunities for high paid, super- visory, skilled, and professional posts. In these fields, professional- technical, crafts, and services, women's employment growth was far less concentrated. Thus, despite the small overall growth, men have continued to dominate the upward mobility channels. H. Men at Lower Educational/Occupational Levels It would be wrong to ignore the serious employment problem which these growth data reveal for men at the lower educational-occupational levels, particularly for minority males. Of course, such men can be directed into the female intensive sector and in fact the penetration of white and black males into female intensive occupations has increased. However, it is not proceeding as vigorously as the reverse movement of women because of lower earnings, lack of skills, and sex discrimina- tion against men in the female fields.24 Minority men face problems at most occupational levels in compet- ing against white men, and the situation undoubtedly is exacerbated by the pressure from women, especially white women, to gain a larger share of the male intensive jobs. Data from the Equal Employment Opportunities Commission show that while the small decline from 1966 `to 1974 in the share of white men in firms with 100 or more em- ployees has been split among all of the other competing groups, it went especially to white women. A special case illustrates the tensions which may arise when white women invade a black man's job. Young, middle- class, suburban white women, usually just out of high school, have been taking stablehand jobs at the Belmont race track outside `of New York City. Living at home., loving horses, these girls have been willing to work long hours for low pay. They are displacing or competing with black men for whom this is a job which must sometimes support a whole family.25 Clearly, the male and female, and white and minority employment problems and goals must be considered together if progress is to be made by any group. In addition to the discrimination which women's advocates rightly charge, account must be taken of the overall slow growth of the occupations in which men have been dominant for so long, and a distinction `must be made between the fast-growing up- wardly mobile sectors and the `others in setting goals for women's penetration. IV. TilE VIEW FRo3r TIlE Siior FLooR AXD TIlE OFFICE The national, cross-sectional data upon which the preceding analysis necessarily has relied deal only with the penetration of women into male intensive occupations. The data have not been concerned with the situation of individual women at various occupational levels as 21 S. H. Garfinkle, op. cit.; Robert Levinson quoted in "Behavior Today" (Dec. 8, 1975), p. 636; New York Times, Nov. 5, 1975, "i\Iore Men Are Diving Into the Secretarial Pool"; I-I. Wool, "The Labor Supply for Lower Level Occupations" (New York: Praeger, 1976). New York Times, Sept. 18, 1976, "Women Stablehands Bring Change to Belmont's Barns ;" Employment and Training Report of the President, 1976," table 0-10. PAGENO="0126" 118 they compare the appropriate female intensive and male intensive oc- cupations in regard to ease of obtaining a job, stability of employment, opportunities for horizontal and vertical mobility, work enviromnent (noise, cleanliness, physical setting, amenities, travel distance, neigh- borhood, safety), work conditions (hours, overtime, vacation, time off), pay rates and earnings and fringe benefits. An examination of the options open to individual women indicates that labor market segmentation which separates men from women also divides women into groups. Despite the popular and academic litera- ture on women's issues which argues that women as a class are op- pressed by men as a class, women are not. united in their needs, inter- ests and attitudes. in regard to a choice of male intensive rather than female intensive occupations, divisions among women can be seen ac- cording to their educational and training leveL work experience, age, race, material and family status. and place of residence. Whether or not women's attitudes reflect the implantation of ideas and values by a male-dominated society, subgroups of women have varying views and face different objective conditions in regard to male intensive occupations. A. Racial Differences `in Job Distnibution Among Women The National Longitudinal Survey of WTolnen 252 studied movements between female and male intensive occupations and vice versa among employed women who were 30 to 44 years old in 1967. A measure, sim- ilar to our MI category. was applied to the jobs held by the women in 1067 and 1971. Between the 2 years. there was a small increase in the proporation of women employed in male intensive occupations at each of the three educational levels, with the exception that blacl~ women with exactly 12 years of education, presumably high school graduation. showed a. marked decrease in the. proportiomi in male intensive jobs.26 In explanation of racial differences, the Longitudinal Survey hy- pothesizes that black women were more influenced by the lowering of racial barriers in female intensive occupations than by the partial removal of obstacles to entering male intensive occupations. It also notes that "black women held atypical jobs in 1967 which could reason- ably be viewed as less desirable than those held by their white counter- parts * * * they appeared to have been able to move (a.nd desirous of moving) into typically female jobs which had previously been closed to them." 27 Furthermore, since black men are not seen as having a superior eco- nomic or political position, and indeed often appear to have even 25~ "National Longitudinal Survey of Women Aged 30 to 44," Center for Human Resource Research (Columbus, Ohio: Ohio State UnIversity, 1967). The National Longitudinal Surveys Study is used by several contributors to this corn- pendium. It probes the relationship of factors influencing the work behavior and experience of four groups: women, aged 30 to 44; women and men, 14 to 24; men. 45 to 59. Focus is on the interaction among economic, sociological, and psychological variables that permit some members of a given age-eduation-occupation group to have satisfactory work expe- riences while others do not. The completed study will constitute a comprehensive body of data on labor mobility. The study has entailed six consecutive surveys of each group at 1-year intervals, except for the omission of the older groups of men and women in 1970. Following the last of these interviews in 1973. a series of two biennial telephone followup interviews was initiated for each group. A final personal interview will be completed in 1978. Ohio State University reports, which are based on Bureau of the Census data, are reproduced as manpower research monographs. Special analyses of the data are also pub- lished from time to time. ~ Jusenius. op. cit., ch. 2. "Ibid., p. 25. PAGENO="0127" 119 greater occupational problems than black women, the movement for sex equality in the marketplace has less appeal to black women than the concurrent and somewhat competing drive for racial equality at work. B. Importance of Job Satisfaction The likelihood that some women deliberately choose typical rather than atypical jobs raises some important qualifications on the general assumptioii that all progress for individual women lies in penetrating the male intensive occupations. For one thing, individuals do not incas- ure progress by a single indicator and in some cases earnings are not paramount in the job decision. Data shows clearly that women who moved from male to female intensive jobs from 1967 to 1971 had the smallest percentage increase in hourly wage rates of all groups ex- amined.28 Data on job satisfaction give a partial explanation, since they "strongly suggest that the psychological rewards associated with atypical and. typical jobs differ according to the educational attain- ment of the incumbents. Those atypical occupations open to women with 0 to 11 years of school appear to be less satisfying than typical jobs." 29 Superior job environment and working conditions and greater stability of employment in many typical jobs may offset the higher pay available on suitable atypical jobs. Certainly, place of residence as it affects the range of local job opportunities influences choice of job. Evidence that many women choose female intensive jobs when a choice is truly available comes from the military forces. Although all noncombat jobs have been opened to women, they have not wished to be assigned to all of the jobs.3° An analysis of the jobs of working wives, whose occupations have been found to be closely tied to those of their husbands, showed a substantial occupational shift between 1960 and 1970 toward some female intensive sectors.1' Admittedily, this is cross sectional rather than longitudinal data and the male intensive occupations are not clearly distinguished from the female. Nonetheless~ upward social mobility, and perhaps economic mobility as well, has been achieved by many wives of men in the lower occupational strata through deliberate movement from male to female intensive jobs. 0. Influence of Marital and Famil~,i Status The influence of living in a household with a husband present should not be underestimated as a factor in restraining women's enthusiasm for nontraditional jobs, especially at the lower educational and occu- pational levels (in 1975 wives living with their husbands constituted almost three-fifths of employed females) ~32 Thus, a frequently-made assumption may be invalid: namely, that most women in the labor market make individual choices about their occupations; instead, the 2S Ibid., pp. 31-33. 29 Ibid., p. 28. 3° General Accounting Office, "Job Opportunities for Women in the Military: Progress and Problems," FPCD-76-26 (Washington. May 1076). 31 ~ Hayghe, "Families and the Rise of Working Wives-An Overview." Special Labor Force Report 189, table 5 (WashIngton, D.C. : U.S. Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor StatIstics, 1976). 32 II. Hayghe, "Marital and Family Charactistics of the Labor Force," Special Labor Force Report 183, table 1 (WashIngton, D.C.: U.S. Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics, 1976). PAGENO="0128" 120 majority probabJ.y are involved in family decisions. Data which dis- tinguish penetration into male intensive occupations by the marital and family status and age of employed women would be useful. D. Effect of Working `Conditions Still another perspective is obtained from a consideration of the famous A.T. & T. agreement to increase, among other categories, the number of female telephone-pole climbers. Disregarding the census evidence that the number of females in this occupation had dechneci between 1960 `and 1970 (from 824 to 785, against a male increase of over 11,000 workers to a total of more than 50,000) ~ or perhaps taking the female decline as evidence of company discrimination, the Govern- ment's agreement with A.T. & T. called for a level of female recruit- ment to this occupation which has been difficult to meet.34 The pay advantage over telephone operator earnings is insufficient to attract many women, and the promotion opportunities are neither numerous nor glorious. It is one thing to insure by law and administrative action that any woman can enter any occupation without sex discrimination, but it is another to draw up orders or agreements which declare that all male intensive occupations are desirable simply because women are ex- cluded. Apart from the untruth, this approach suggests that male- female earning differences cannot be remedied in any other way. Reliance on this approach also confers an official approval on danger- ous, dirty or monotonous occupations which men have been trying to improve, undercutting their efforts `by the official insistence on recruit- ment of women who usually are more compliant workers. It is fashionable to assume that the persistence of male intensive occupations results entirely from institutional rigidities and resistance on the part of employers, male workers, customers of the firm and others on the demand side. But there is considerable evidence, espe- cially for women whose choice of male intensive occupations would be limited to nonoffice work, that many women prefer female intensive jobs and would rather strive for closing the earnings gap than chang- ing their occupations. E. Verticcd MoT.ility in Office Settings The situation is quite different, for the occupational groups where both male and female intensive jobs are located in offices or similar settings. Women entering male intensive jobs usually have as good or better work environments, working conditions. security, pa.y and fringe benefits than they would have in female intensive jobs. At this level, women can qualify for entry into male intensive fields through special- ized education which is provided in a more sex-neutral way than train- ing in the workplace. Moreover, as previously reported, many of these ocdupatlonal groups have been expanding rapidly. But the more im- portant difference between women seeking male intensive occupations `~` ITS. Bureau of the Census, Census of Population, i970, "Detailed Characteristics. PC(1)-Di. U.S. Summary" (Washington, D.C. Government Printing Offlce, i973), table 221. `~ Wallace, op. cit. PAGENO="0129" 121 at the professional-technical and managerial levels and women at other occupational levels is the fact that the first group is more concerned with vertical than horizontal mobility opportunities. V. EARNINGS How do women in the male-intensive occupations fare in regard to wage rates and earnings? Three bases of comparison are relevant. One is the experience of individual women who move from female to male intensive jobs. From the National Longitudinal Survey of women aged 30 to 44 in 1967 and employed in 1967 and 1971, we learn that among all women in the survey, those who were in male-intensive occupations in both years had the highest absolute wage rates, whether they were black or white and at all education levels. Women who moved from female to male intensive jobs made the largest percentage gains in hourly wage rates from 1967 to 1971.~~ In a subsequent multiple regres- sion analysis of the same group's 1972 wage rates, the women were divided into three skill groups according to the levels of education/ training required and into female and male intensive occupations. Holding constant race, health, weekly hours of work, type of employer (public or private), region, size of local labor market, and collective bargaining coverage, Jusenius found that the sex label of an occupa- tion was a significant determinant of wage rates in the low-skill and medium-skill categories but not in the high-skill stratum.36 Another perspective comes from cross-sectional data in the census. Taking the occupations which were both male intensive and SFP, the median earnings for females in 52 of these occupations were matched to the deciles of all 1970 female median annual earnings by occupations as prepared by Sommers.~~ It is clear that the MI occupations which had a large increase in the female share of employment ranked fairly low in median annual earnings compared with all female occupations. While a tabulation in terms of the number of persons involved prob- ably would give increased importance to the higher earnings deciles, it is significant that the occupations receiving half of the female increase in MI occupations were not particularly high on the annual earnings scale. Annual earnings may reflect the greater instability, turnover and layoff in male intensive occupations, offsetting the possibly higher hourly wage rate. Conversely, the latter is not adequate as a measure because of variations in the amount of work available over the year. Of course, these census data show nothing about the earnings experi- ence of the individual women who transferred to the MI occupations. Even more lacking is a longitudinal or cross-sectional comparative analysis in which the wage rates and earnings of women entering non- traditional jobs are lined up with those of comparable men already in such occupations. A further question as to women's earnings is the effect of joining unionized enterprises. Occupational desegregation does not in itself insure that wage and salary differentials are eliminated, as Governor Ella Grasso of Con- necticut told a recent convention of female banking officials.~~ From a ~ Jusenius, op. cit., vol. 3, pp. 31-33, 91. 36 Ibid., voL 4 ch. 4. ~7 D. Sommers, "Occupational Rankings for Men and women by Earnings," Monthly Labor Review (August 1974). ~ New York Times, Oct. 3, 1976, financial section, "Bank Women Step Out Front." 91-6S6--77-----9 PAGENO="0130" 122 blue-collar setting, Winn Newman of the International Union of Elec- trical Workers recounted the adjustments made by companies in their classification and wage systems in order to conform with legislation out-lawing discrimination and yet to be able to continue to pay women less than men doing identical work. Far from resenting the wage dif- ferences between themselves and male workers, the women workers be- came angry at the union after it obtained a settlement i~liich raised some but not all female wage rates; the comparison with other women's rates aroused far more feeling than the longstanding and greater ad- vantage enjoyed by men.39 Since one of the main advantages imputed to occupational desegregation concerns equality of earnings, the actual outcomes should be carefully investigated, particularly the subterfuges of title and classification which may be introduced by employers.40 VI. POLICY OBJECTIVES AND OPTIoNs As an introduction to policy considerations, we present an overview of the chief findings on the penetration of women into male intensive occupations, based mainly on the analysis of comparable census data for 1960 and 1970 covering 418 usable occupations: 1. The rate of growth of female employment in male intensive occu- pations has been more rapid than in female employment as a whole, and almost nine times as fast as the increase of men in the male intensive occupations. But the initial female base in the male intensive occupations in 1960 was so small that at the present time women ac- count for only around 12 percent of all employment in male intensive occupations, and almost 85 percent of all women workers are outside the male intensive occupations, mostly in female intensive occupa- tions, with the others in gender-neutral fields. Such small advances suggest that the public policy measures to end occupational segrega- tion have not been very effective, either because the measures have not been widely or well applied, or because they do not come to grips with the underlying causes of sexual polarization. 2. Within the male intensive (MI) occupations, about twice as many women are employed in the M~II occupations (where women are 11 to 25 percent of employment) as in the 1/MI occupations (where women are 10 percent or less). The greatest challenge for future female pene- tration lies in the latter group, which includes the most attractive and upwardly mobile posts. 3. The blue-collar type of occupations account for a malority of women in the male intensive sector, but the recent and future direction of change favors female employment in the professional-technical and clerical male intensive occupations. Much slower female growth has been recorded in managerial and sales occupations where little. male growth in employment occurred. 4. Measurement of employment changes in the recession of 19 t4-~is for a substantial number of male intensive occupations indicates that women maintained their relative share of employment or improved on it in most of the occupations. "W. Newman, "Combating Occupational Segregation, Presentation III." Signs (spring 1976 supplement). ~° C. R. Martin, Tr., "Support for Women's Lib: Management Performance, Southern Journal of Business (February 1972). PAGENO="0131" 123 5. Female penetration of male intensive occupations cannot be meas- ured purely in terms of increases in the female share of an occupa- tion's employment. It is true that the 53 male intensive occupations which had an increase of 5 or more percentage points in the female share from 1960 to 1970 accounted for over half of the total increment of women in the male intensive sector. But among these occupations the female share in at least 27 of the 53 occupations rose because of slow or negative growth of males in the occupation rather than great female advances. Moreover, in many other male-intensive occupations where women made great gains, measured by absolute or percentage increases of their employment, the female share did not reflect their progress because the absolute increase of males often was even larger. This was particularly true in the professional-technical and crafts occupations. 6. Strong growth of female employment in male intensive occupa- tions is highly associated with rapid expansion of total employment in these occupations. The fortunes of men and women ride in tandem, and for `both sexes the white collar and higher paid occupations have shown the greatest expansion. Conversely, the prospects for women whose numbers and share are advancing in some of the craft, operative and laborer occupations dominated by men are less promising because some of the occupations in which women's shares rose most are leveling out or declining in total employment. Promotion opportunities are more limited and contested, and new female intensive occupations may even be developing. 7. The combination of slow growth in some male intensive occupa- tions with a limited number of promotion possibilities for women makes many women at the blue collar and lower white collar occupa- tional level seek entry jobs and upward mobility through the female intensive sector. Many at this level also prefer the attainable female intensive jobs for reasons of social prestige, employment stability, work conditions, working environment and related factors which offset smaller earnings gains than could be achieved in male intensive blue collar occupations. Black women, disproportionately at the lower edu- cational-occupational levels, may be particularly disinclined to com- pete with black men in the male intensive sector because they see them, not in the oppressor role sometimes imputed to white men by .white women, but as victims, possibly worse off than black women. 8. Male intensive occupations in the white collar fields offer the same or superior working environments and conditions and higher earnings, than the related female intensive occupations. This feature leads to less conflict over choices than women face at the lower end of the occupational scale, and establishes clearer upward mobility pat- terns from female intensive to male intensive occupations. Because of segmentation of labor markets, groups of women have different in- terests and needs from one another, and some women have more in common with men at their own level than with women at higher levels. 9. The crucial issue for women is not desegregation in the horizontal sense; that is, the ability to choose among a wider seiection of occupa- tions at a given level. As the preparatory education and traimng undertaken by young women widens, this form of segregation will de- crease further, admittedly more easily for those whose preparation PAGENO="0132" 124 occurs in educational institutions than for those who rely on training connected with the workplace. Vertical mobility, movement into the higher ranks of an organization, and greater responsibility on the job are the nub of the problem. In terms of the fuller utilization of exist- ing education and skills, the benefits to be obtained from promotion, and mobility opportunities within the work organization, women in the white collar occupations, especially the professional-technical and managerial groups, have a stronger position than other women, but still face keen competition from men, black and white, for the small pool of such jobs. 10. Individual workers pay rates have risen more substantially for women moving from female to male intensive occupations than for other women, and women in male intensive occupations have the highest absolute pay rates. But the male intensive occupations in which wOmen made their greatest employment advances from 1960 to 1970 did not produce higher annual earnings on average than all females showed. Evidence is lacking on the vital point of whether women who move into male intensive occupations earn the same amount as men who perform identical work. 11. Viewed from the perspective of male employment growth in the male intensive occupations, the female absolute nmnbers and per- centage increase appear substantial. Against a net female increase of 1.4 million jobs; and a 51.6 percent growth rate from 1960 to 1970, males had a net increase of 2.1 million jobs and only a 5.9 percent rise. Indeed, the data suggest an approaching serious employment problem for males at the lower educational-occupational levels, es- pecially for black males, unless they enter female intensive jobs. On the Other hand, the male growth pattern indicates a continuing hold on the best jobs in both the blue collar and white collar worlds. The relation of the findings listed above to a full employment pol- icy is in one sense obvious. Unless there is a much closer approxima- tion to full employment, the failure to satisfy the demand for jobs in numerical terms will preclude any serious effort on the desegregation front; that i~, to provide the types of jobs which will meet the demand for greater .~imilarity in the occupational distributions of men and women. ` It is a premise Of the series of papers in this compendium that full employment' in the numerical sense can be attained and maintained and that the residual problems which beset women under full employ- ment are the issue. In terms of the entry of women into the male inten- sive occupations, the full employment issue cannot be separated so neatly `from the residual problems. For one thing, it may be antici- pated that the labor supply of women will respond to full employment both by increases in the female labor force participation rate and by a heavier demand from women for the jobs which are male dominated. Moreover, there is no inherent reason why a successful full employ- ment policy, as it is commonly defined, should produce a larger pro- portion of "good" jobs. The deficiency in the number of "good" jobs, even under full employment, and the rising expectations o~f many sec- tions of the work force, not just women, may become as potent a source PAGENO="0133" 125 of dissatisfaction as an inadequate total number of jobs. From this point of view, it is important to recognize the two separate issues of numbers of jobs and types of jobs. Public service employment may meet minimum needs for employment and income, but such jobs do not respond to the desire of women and other groups to obtain a larger share of the higher paid, more responsible and prestigious jobs. The objectives of those who seek equality for women are often couched in terms of obtaining a share of women in each occupation equal to the share women hold among all employed persons. The more ambitious goal stipulates half of every occupation for women workers, based either on the share of population or on an anticipated rise in the female share of the work force. But even the aim which takes women's current 40.7 percent of total employment as its standard is questionable as the chief measure to achieve equality. Some champion it simply because it represents an approach to equality, but others, more numerous, believe that this is a primary method of bringing women's earnings closer to men's. The magnitude of the changes required in both male and female employment need to be firmly borne in mind in discussing this goal. If it were to be achieved by a displacement of men, presumably leaving them either to take up female intensive jobs or remain unemployed, some 12 to 13 million men would have to be displaced. If, instead, the change was to be accomplished by supervising new hires so that only women were taken into the male intensive occupations (again a more drastic policy than is likely to be accepted because, among other rea- sons, women are not the only group whose goals have a high priority), it would take a great many years to achieve the proposed share in each detailed occupation. Apart from the sheer size of the change which is implied, the under- lying premises of this egalitarian goal need to be aired: That a sufficient number of "good" jobs exists or will be created so that present and future desires of women can be considered apart from men's, and women, as a disadvantaged group, will not be in sharp competition with other disadvantaged; That discrimination is the only or overwhelming cause of wom- en's disproportionate representation in nontraditional jobs, ignor- ing questions of insufficient education, training and skills as well as the lack of desire of women to enter each and every male inten- sive occupation; That the objective situation is more or less the same in female and male intensive occupations at every level, and that women have an equal desire for nontraditional jobs at every educational- occupational level and in every type of personal situation; That earnings differences between men and women can only be remedied by changing women's occupations, overlooking other methods of bringing earnings closer together. In Sweden, which has no better an occupational distribution than the United States from the point of view of women, government policy and a high degree of unionization of women have brought the female manual workers' earnings to over 80 percent of men's-a ratio consider- ably higher than prevails in the United States. PAGENO="0134" 126 Given the enormity of the change required to produce occupational equality, it would seem wise to approach it in a more diversified and selective way than is postulated in current legislation, court orders, agreements, and other procedures. A concentration on cases where em- ployment is expanding and a body of women is ready, eager and com- petent to take up male intensive occupations would foster wider and better enforcement of existing measures. Meanwhile, a great effort must be made to improve the earnings in female intensive occupations so that more men will be interested in entering them and women will be content to remain in them. The goal of making the occupational distribution of women exactly like that of men is less realistic than an aim of changing the distribution of both sexes so as to reduce the dis- crepancies between them. The battle for the "good" jobs will not be settled by women proceeding on their own. PAGENO="0135" UNDEREMPLOYMENT OF WOMEN: POLICY IMPLICA- TIONS FOR A FULL EMPLOYMENT ECONOMY Br GERALD P. GLYDE * CONTENTS Page. I. Introduction.._ 127 A. Measurement of underemployment 128 B. Occupational segregation 129 C. Focus of underemployment 130 II. Definition of underemployment and qualifications 130 III. Causes of underemployment of women 131 A. The hiring and promotion process and intraskill underem- ployment 132 1. Job attachment~. 132 2. Work discontinuity 133 3. Credentialism 133 4. Internal labor market - 134 5. Promotion 134 B. Discrimination and intraskill underemployment 134 C. Other causes of intraskill underemployment... - 135 D. Causes of interskill underemployment 136 E. Consequences and costs of underemployment - 137 IV. Policy implications for reducing underemployment of women 138 A. Full employment 138 B. The hiring process 138 C. Labor market information 139 D. Counseling 139 E. On-the-job training and cooperative education~. -- 140 F. Paraprofessionalism.~. - 140 G. Part-time work 141 H. Nontraditional education for women 141 Conclusion -- -- 141 I. INTRODtTCTION Women comprise a significant and increasing share of the labor force in the United States. In 1976, about 39 million women were in the labor market accounting for 41 percent of the total labor force. The labor force participation rate of women was 47.3 percent in that year. These statistics contrast sharply with those of a quarter of a century earlier.1 Clearly, any serious public policy dealing with efficient and equitable utilization of human resources cannot ignore this increas- ingly important labor market group. The official measure used to reveal underutilization in the labor mar- ket is the unemployment rate. On this score, women consistently have higher rates than do men. In 1975, the unemployment rates for women and men were 9.3 and 7.9 percent respectively. The comparable rates ~Assistant professor of economics, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, Pa. 1 U.S. Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics, "Employment and Earnings," January 1977 (Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office, 1977). (127) PAGENO="0136" 128 for 1968, a year when the overall rate was low, were 4.9 percent for women and 2.9 percent for men.2 These differentials in labor market utilization of women and men reflect a complex variety of economic, social, and cultural factors which result in different labor market par- adigms for each. For example, a portion of the unemployment differ- ential is accounted for by the high labor force exit and entry rates that women exhibit, compared to men. On the other hand, women tend to be relegated to relatively high turnover occupations. Our unemployment statistics, although revealing, detailed and con- sidered among the best in the world, tell us only a part of the story about differential rates of underutilization between men and women in the labor market. In short., these statistics are virtually blind to the issue of how well women (or any other group) fare within employ- ment. Unemployment statistics naturally focus on those individuals who are not working but desire to and are available for work. In the case of women, the unemployment rate reveals perhaps only part of the problem of underutilization. An important complement to unemployment data would he infor- mation on underemployment. Underemployment is defined at this point as a condition in which workers are in jobs where their acquired skills are underutilized relative to the job requirements. In absolute terms of human resource waste, the underemployment problem for women probably looms large in comparison to the unfavorable dif- ferential in unemployment rates that face women. The intent of these statements is not to diminish the seriousness of unemployment. Having a job, even if the job does not utilize ones skills, is probably better than no job. However, public policy measures to attain full employment should consider the quality of jobs gener- ated for various labor force groups, as well as the quantity of jobs provided for them. Full employment has a hollow ring if a large seg- ment of the labor force is working, but unable to fully utilize its skills within employment. A. Measurement of Underemployment As yet, there is no adequate measure of underemployment. Research- ers in the area of human resources recognize the need, however~ to go beyond the concept of unemployment; it is increasingly clear that. un- deremployment will be a source of continuing investigation. The fol- lowing quotes express this need: Indeed, in all countries-rich and poor alike-the study and reporting of un- deremployment as a measure of the quality of working life is bound to become increasingly important to the formation of public policy.3 There is a recognized need to improve the measurement of each of the several facets which affect the adequacy of employment for individuals.4 One major reason for inadequate measures of underutilization in the labor market is that underemployment is both conceptually and em- 2 "Emaloyment and Earnings," 1977, and `Manpower Report of the President" (Wash- ington, D.C. : U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration, 1974), p. 253. `Bennett Harrison. "Education and Underemployment in the Urban Ghetto," American Economic Review (December 1972). p. 797. Deborah Pisetzner Klein, "Exploring the Adequacy of Employment," Monthly Labor Review 96 (October 1973), p. 8. PAGENO="0137" 129 pirically more elusive than is unemployment.5 To illustrate, consider the definition of underemployment provided by a Presidential com- mittee: "Employment of persons at jobs that call for less than their highest level of skill and at wages less than those to which their skills, if fully utilized, would normally entitle them.6 This definition raises a number of questions. For example, what does highest level of skill mean? Does it mean potential skill or current skill, including both formal education and work experience? What does fully utilize mean? ~That numeraire would be used to determine the amount individuals would normally earn if their skills were fully utilized? Is it estimated that part-time workers should be included or excluded from the defini- tion. These questions serve to illustrate some of the difficulties inherent in the concept of underemployment. A major empirical problem is that we are not able to identify skills adequately, particularly on-the- job training skills. There is also a paucity of detailed information on the skill content of jobs.7 B. Occupational Segregation Women tend to be crowded into a limited range of female occupa- tions and female educational programs, which cannot help but lead to underutilization of their talents, given the increasing supply of women labor market participants. Clerical, service, and professional occupa- tions account for two-thirds of all women workers, with the clerical category alone accounting for one-third of the total of women workers. In the professional category, women are heavily concentrated in oc- cupations such as nursing, library work, and elementary education.8 The educational programs that women enter tend to lead to limited occupational opportunities. For example, data from the U.S. Office of Education indicate that nearly three-quarters of all women enrolled in vocational training programs in 1971-72 were concentrated in con- sumer, homemaking or office vocational fields. In contrast, over one-half of male students were enrolled in technical, trade and industrial or agricultural programs. Occupational segregation, which leads to excess supply conditions in these occupations, inevitably yields low returns on education for wo- men; men, who have access to broader occupational opportunities, but who may in fact have no greater skills at job entry, gain higher agricultural programs.9 Several investigators have recently been engaged in efforts to identify and measure what may be termed "subemployment," which differs from underemployment. Although the details of these efforts vary, the intent of most subemployment measures is to capture the following dimensions of the labor market failure, and add these to the official unem- 1)loyment measures, thus providing a more comprehensive view of the underutilization of human resources. First, subemployment Includes the discouraged worker phenomenon, where individuals are not working and not actively seeking work; they desire work, but are not seeking It because of their belief that they cannot obtain it. Second, subemployment takes account of Involuntary part-time work, where individuals are working part-time but desire full-time jobs. Third, subemployment includes persons who work full-time, but whose incomes are inadequate for minimal Individual or family support. See Thomas Vietorisz, R. Meir, and J. Giblin, "Subemployment: Exclusion and Inadequacy Indexes," Monthly Labor Review 98 (May 1975) pp. 3-12. Underemployment represents an additional dimension of underutilization In the labor market. ° U.S. President's Committee To Appraise Employment and Unemployment Statistics, "Measuring Employment and Unemployment" (Washington, D. C.: Government Printing Office, 1962), p. 58. ~ See James 0. Scoville, "Manpower and Occupational Analysis: Concepts and Measure- ment," (Lexington, Mass. : D. C. Health and Co., 1972). Stuart H. Garfinkle, "Occupations of Women and Black Workers, 1962-74," Monthly Labor Review (November 1975), pp. 25-35. See Shirley McCune "Vocational Education: A Dual System," "Inequality in Educa- tion" (March 1974), p. 30. PAGENO="0138" 130 C. Foüus of UnderempZoyrnent The sources of earnings differences between men and . women are diverse, and not all of the differences can .be said to result from under- employment. Women do not have the same skill distribution as men, either in terms of formal education or job experience training. Wo_ men's labor force patterns differ from men's, particularly during the early years of labor force participation, when skill accumulation through employment is so important. To the extent.that women's skill development does, in fact, fall behind men is unfortunate and in many respects discriminatory. But lower level jobs taken by women refiect~ ing this skill disadvantage are not what is meant by underemployment. The measurement of underemployment compares how well women's current skills are utilized in jobs relative to men with equivalent skills. Occupational and earnings distributions differences between men and women are the result of many voluntary and involuntary factors. The underemployment focus is on involuntary factors which prevent ade- quate utilization of skills. The remainder of this paper is devoted to (1) a. definition and clari- fication of underemployment, (2) causes of underemployment of wo- men, and (3) policy implications for reducing underemployment of women. It is possible to discuss causes and policy implications of un- deremployment, even if it is not as yet quantifiable. The seriousness of a problem in the labor market is not determined by how easy it is to measure. II. DEFINITION OF TJNDEREMPLOYMENT AND Q~AL~ICATIONS For discussion purposes, underemployment is defined here as an in- voluntary employment condition where workers are in jobs, either part-time or full-time, in which their skills, including formal and work experience training, are technically underutilized and thus under- valued relative to those of other individuals of similar ability who have made equivalent investments in skill development. Two major forms of underemployment-intraskill and interskill-can be distin- guished. Intraskill underemployment occurs when particular individu- als or groups of individuals within an identifiable skill group are less able to utilize their skills than is the average individual from this skill group. That is, they have the equivalent ability and occupational preparation as the comparison group, but some real or perceived char- acteristic of these individuals is the source of their underemployment, not the general marketability of their skill, per Se. The source of this form of underemployment of women may be employers real or per- ce~ved cost of search to hire women, discrimination against women, or other barriers to labor market mobility which women face. These causes are explored in the next section of the paper. In contrast, interskill underemployment refers to a condition where the average individual in a particular skill group is underutilized in employment as compared to the average individual from other skill groups where training investment costs are the same, but the nature of the occupational preparation differs. It is the nature of the skill that the underemployed individual possesses, not any personal characteris- tic, which causes, the problem. Sources of interskill underemployment PAGENO="0139" 131 of women include occupational crowding, a lag in labor market adjust- ment, retraining costs, and imperfect information. Given the definition of underemployment suggested above, it is im~ portant to note a few of its implications.b0 First, underemployment is an involuntary condition, just as unemployment is viewed as an invol- untary phenomenon. Second, underemploymet is restricted to the un- derutilization of human resources within employment, including both part-time and full-time employment. Women hold about 60 percent of all part-time jobs 11 given the limited range of skilled jobs in this sec- tor, the probability of underemployment in part-time work is likely to be greater than in the full-time labor market. Third, underemploy- ment focuses on how well current skills, not potential skills, are util- ized. If potential skills were to be compared with job requirements, then almost every worker must be considered underemployed, since almost every worker could be more productive if given additional training. A measure of current skills should take account of both on-the-job expe- rience and formal education. Job situation training is difficult to meas- tire, but reliance on formal education as a measure of skill level will understate the true skill level of workers who have received substan- tial learning experiences in the labor market.12 Fourth, a worker is said to be underemployed if her current skills are technically underutilized and thus undervalued. Technical under- utilization refers to a direct comparison between the skills of a worker and the skill content of her job, where the worker's skills exceed. job requirements. In the absence of a direct measure, it is expected that technical underutilization would be reflected by the undervaluation of the worker's skills in the form of lower wages.13 Finally, underem- ployment is a relative concept. Individuals are underemployed rela- tive to whom? The definition suggests that the numeraire would be based on the average wage of workers of similar ability who have made equivalent investments in skill development. Initial measures of underemployment might concentrate on wage variations across var- ious labor force groups whose acquired skills are judged to be homogeneous. III. CAUSES OF UNDEREMPLOYMENT OF WOMEN The diverse factors that may produce underemployment of women, are explored in this section: (1) Discounting by employers of wom- en's human capital at job entry; (2) labor market discrimination; 10 For a detailed discussion of this definition see Gerald P. Glyde, David L. Snyder, and Anthony R. Stemberger. "Underemployment: Definition, Causes, and Measurement," Insti- tute for Research on Human Resources (University Park, Pa.: The Pennsylvania State University, 1975), ch. 3. ~-` "Employment and Earnings" (January 1976) p. 151. 12 Jacob Mincer, "Schooling, Experience, and Earnings" (New York: National Bureau of Economic Research. 1974). 12 There Is some empirical support for the conceptual view expressed above. A recent survey of nearly one-half million Individuals who graduated from college In 1972, and who were working full time, showed that the more directly that individual's jobs related to their education, the closer actual earnings were to the individuals' expected earnings. Over 50 percent of those Individuals who stated that their jobs were directly related to their education stated that their pay was about the same as they had expected. Only 28 percent of those individuals who stated that their training was not directly related to their job stated that actual earnings were consistent with their expectations. For the first group, only 11 percent earned substantially lower pay than they had expected; however, for the second group, 35 percent earned substantially lower pay than expected. See U.S. Department of. Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics, "Labor Market Experience of Recent College Graduates," Special Labor Force Report, No. 169 (Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office, 1974). PAGENO="0140" 132 (3) other sources of intraskill underemployment, such as barriers to labor market mobility, inadequate range of part-time jobs, and weak labor force attachment; (4) interskill underemployment. A. The Hiring and Promotion Process and Intraskill Underemployment Because labor market information is imperfect and predicting the potential of job applicants is tenuous, employers may use a num- ber of less than ideal methods to make informed decisions on matters such as the probable job attachment of applicants for vacancies. The fact that employers ask a considerable number of questions on appli- cation blanks, which provide them with socioeconomic data, suggests that they are interested in these variables to indicate the potential of the applicant. In considering an applicant's expected job perform- ance, an important factor is the probability of quitting. In the ma- jority of hiring situations, employers want workers who have strong job attachment. If labor costs were totally variable, employers would not be concerned about rapid voluntary turnover. In most work en- vironments, however, workers represent both fixed and variable costs, and the former is often substantial.14 The cost of voluntary turn- over to employers is, therefore, in part a function of hiring (search) and training costs. 1. JOB ArrACHMENT Statistics are in fact consistent with the view that women, as a group, have less job attachment than men. For example, the Bureau of Labor Statistics has estimated that the monthly quit rate in man- ufacturing in 1968 was 2.2 percent for men and 2.6 percent for women.'5 In January 1973, `the median years of tenure on a current job was 2.8 years for women and 4.6 years for men.'6 These statistics appear to validate the conventional wisdom regarding the weak job attachment of women and thus the inherent risk employers face in hiring women for meaningful, productive, interesting and rewarding work. Upon reflection, however, these statistics are not of much use un- less they are corrected for occupational differences. That is, a mean- ingful comparison between male and female job attachment should be made on the basis of comparable jobs. Although data on this basis are sparse, the point can be illustrated. In 1973, median years of tenure in a current job for nonf arm laborers was 2.1 years for men and 2 years for women. In food service occupations, men's tenure was 1.1 years and women's was 1.6 years.'7 Quitting is a function of job characteristics, as well as worker characteristics, and women tend to be overrepresented in low paying, dead-end occupations which have high quit rates for both men and women. The irony is that high quit rates for women are caused, in part, by the nature of the jobs that employers make available to them; in turn, these high quit rates `~ Walter 01. "Labor as a Quasi-Fixed Factor," Journal of Political Economy, LXX (Dee~mber 1962), pp. 538-555. 15 ITS. Department of Labor. Women's Bureau. "1975 Handbook on Women Workers" (Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office. 1975), p. 60. `~ITS. Departmet of Labor. Bureau of Labor Statistics, "Job ~1'enure of Workers," Special Labor Force Report No. 172 (Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office, 19Th), p. A-17. 17 Ibid., A-17. PAGENO="0141" 133 for women as a group are then used as justification for denying women access to good jobs. Qualified women will tend to be underemployed as long as employers generalize the view that women quit more readily than men. Their wages and return of their human capital will be less than that of men, as will the utilization of women's skills. Even if women have weaker job attachment, on average, than men, a signifi- cant proportion of women may have as strong as or stronger job at- tachment than the men with whom they are competing for partic- ular job vacancies. In this case, inadequate labor market information or bias on the part of the employer is a cause of underemployment. If employers are correct, on the average, they may not wish to invest in further information to change their perception of the situation. In fact, given the cost of information, this situation, which could be optimal for employers, clearly results in underemployment for women.18 Discounting of women's human capital will cause them to end up at a lower level in the job hierarchy. which less efficiently utilizes their skills, and will provide them with less remuneration. This discounting may be based on fact or fancy; it is the perception of employers that counts. 2. WORK DI5CONTIN~ITY Women's human capital may be devalued in the eyes of the employer on other grounds than their quit rate. For example, if a female appli- cant's work history shows a number of labor market interruptions, her human capital may be discounted. Any person with a less desirable employment record, as perceived by the employer, may have his/her human capital devalued even if he or she is, in fact, endowed with equivalent amounts of human capital compared to the competitors. for the vacancy. Obviously, there is considerable room for bias and error in this process, as well as for legitimate-screening. 3. CREDENTIALISM Another factor leading to underemployment of women is credential- ism. In this insta.nce, the employer requires the applicant to have a degree, diploma, or other certified skill. This screening device works against labor force members whose training is less formal and there- fore more costly and difficult to identify. Women tend to receive formal training in a narrower range of fields than men. For example, nearly two-thirds of the bachelor degrees earned by women are in the areas of education, letters (mainly English) or social sciences (mainly sociol- ogy and history) ~,19 The requirement of degrees or diplomas in par- ticular fields clearly works against women. From the employers' point of view, screening in this manner is logical and appears to be wide- spread. While this use of educational credentials as a screening cri- terion may be appropriate in many circumstances, it would appear to hinder unnecessarily labor force groups who have less formal educa- tion but are nonetheless skilled, and those groups who have educational credentials in a narrow range of fields. This disadvantage faced by 18 This phenomenon is often referred to as statistical discrimination. See Robert Hall, "Prospects for Shifting the Phillips Curve Through Manpower Policy," Brookings Papers on Economic Activity (Washington, D.C., 1971), No. 3, p. 683. `~ "1975 Handbook on Women Workers," p. 204. PAGENO="0142" 134 women leads toward an unnecessarily narrow range of job opportu- mties and attendant possibilities for vertical mobility within the labor market. 4. INTERNAL LABOR MARKET Internal labor markets refer to job vacancies within the firm which are usually filled only by employees of the firm through promotion. Competition for internal labor market vacancies by the external labor market is restricted to so-called "ports of entry." These positions con- sist of jobs at the lower end of the job hierarchy; (there may be several hierarchies in a firm) ~20 Women outsiders who compete with male in- siders for job vacancies above the entry level may again have their human capital discounted, even when both groups in fact have equiva- lent skills. Ignoring the external labor market may not be an irrational move on the employer's part, since he has more information about the workers who have been employed within his firm than about other workers. This process may result in underemployemnt of women, how- ever. If all workers at one time or another are faced with internal labor market barriers, then underemployment of this sort can be considered transitional. One of the requirements of moving up in the internal labor market is strong attachment to the firm and to the labor force. Therefore those individuals who drop out of the labor force more often than the aver- age will face a greater probability of underemployment. Members of those groups of workers who are expected (and perceived by the employer) to have high quit rates are less likely to be promoted and hence face the possibility of transitional underemployment becoming permanent. The internal labor market phenomenon, then, is another source of underemployment for women. 5. PROMOTION Promotion consists of sifting the current stock of workers and giving one person a higher position. The promotion process causes under- employment when it is unable to place all equally qualified workers in positions that fully utilize their abilities. In fact, a well-organized promotion process may foster underemployment when an employer hires many more workers for entry level positions than can possibly be promoted. While many of the people in the "promotion pooi" are underemployed, the company is assessing them in order to pick perhaps one for promotion to a position that will utilize his/her talents. This procedure may be rational for the firm, but it leads to underemploy- ment among the workers. In particular, if women are viewed as more of a gamble for* senior positions, qualified women will suffer more underemployment than men. B. Di~crimAnation and I'ntrasldZl Undere~'mpZoy~'ment A closely related cause of underemployment, which is difficult to separate clearly from the problem of inadequate labor market informa- tion and the cost of search, is labor market discrimination. Labor market discrimination may. be viewed as occurring when employers 20For one of the best discussions of internal labor markets, see Peter B. Doeringer and Michael 3. Piore, "Internal Labor Markets and Manpower Analysis" (Lexington, Mass.: D. C. Heath & Co., 1971). PAGENO="0143" 1(35 make hiring and promotion decisions on the basis of nonproduetivity related characteristics. Because the identification of productivity characteristics is imprecise, screening criteria that employers use in their employment decisions may be discriminatory in the following ways: (1) The criteria may be unrelated to work performance; (2) while the criteria may accurately reflect group averages, they may not be appropriate for a subset of this group whose employment prospects are being determined by the employer; (3) the criteria may reflect prejudice rather than any attempt to estimate productivity; (4) past inaccuracies in hiring and promotion decisions may be used sub- sequently to screen these individuals out of future labor market progression opportunities. . If an employer's screening criteria are even loosely related to work performance, or if. biased statistical evidence is used as justification, it may . be difficult to distinguish between prejudicial. and infor- mational hiring standards. Assume, for example; that an employer's experience indicates that the job attachment of women is less than that of men. Can he, then, legitimately discount all women's capacity for work? Or should this be interpreted as a form of prejudicial discrimination? 21 Employment discrimination occurs when women, because of non- economic characteristics, receive lower rates of return on their human capital than do men who have the same productivity characteristics. This definition does not infer discrimination from unequal patterns of employment per Se. Part of the unequal labor market status of women must be attributed to prelabor market discrimination, which results in unequal endowments of human capital, and to differences in labor market behavior. The isolation of that part of male-female clif- ferences in the quality of employment caused by discrimination is a difficult task. It is particularly difficult to identify all elements of human capital that are relevant to work performance, and to evaluate the productivity effects of differences in labor market behavior. These problems are compounded by the fact that the two sources of dif- ferentials in employment status may be related. C. Other Causes of I~ntras1ciU U'aderempZoyment A married woman, in particular, has a greater probability of ex- periencing underemployment than `a man because: (a) she usually must leave her job if her husband moves, and (b) she usually cannot take advantage of better employment opportunities which require a geographical move on her part. Although family mobility is in- fluenced by economic opportunity, it is the husband's job which usu- ally takes precedence. The `family move may maximize the hu~band's and family income, hut the wife who was working prior to the move will be forced to take whatever employment she can find in the new lo- cation. Hence, there is a greater probability that the wife will be un- deremployed than is the case of the husband who has made a purpose- f iii move. 21 At least two contributors to the discrimination literature Imply that the distinction between "statistical" and "prejudicial" discrimination is a spurious one: "Discrimination is the process of forming stereotyped views that all members of a particular group are assumed to possess the characteristics of the group." F. Weisskoff, "Women's Place In the Labor Market," American Economic Review 62 (supplement, May i972), p. 164. `~Discrimi- nation is no less damaging to its victims for being statistical. And it is no less important for social policy to counter." E. Phelps, "The Statistical Theory of Racism and Sexism," American Economic Review 62 (September 1972). PAGENO="0144" 136 A family generally does not move in response to labor market op- portunities for the wife. This phenomenon may be quite logical viewed in the family income context. Yet the consequences of this behavior lead to more underemployment for a woman than if she were free to pursue purposeful job mobility tied to her skill development. Because of family responsibilities, many women desire or are limited to part-time work, as are older workers for other reasons. However, not many professional and skilled occupations provide part-time work options so as to make it possible for those who are professionally trained or skilled to utilize their skills and avoid underemployment. There appears to be little evidence to support the view that part-time workers are less productive than full-time workers. Professional and skilled part-time work would keep women in contact with "their type" of job and prevent skill erosion from taking place. There is no particular reason why career commit- ment cannot be part time for both men and women. In any case, the absence of part-time jobs to suit the skill distribution of workers often results in underemployment. Another potential source of underemployment of women is weak labor force attachment. For example, women who leave the labor force for considerable periods may suffer an erosion of their labor market skill. The extent of this loss will depend on the nature of their skill. But, more importantly, with regard to underemployment, when they reenter the labor market, they may lack confidence to compete. for jobs for which their current skills are, in fact. appropriate. The result would be underemployment, as it would be if employers overreact to the perceived skill loss of women who have been absent from the labor force for a considerable period. D. Causes of Jnte~rs7eifl U%cleremplo7jment Interskill underemployment is the result of a relative disadvantage in the marketability of a skill itself, compared to other skills which required equivalent investments to obtain. Persons who are underem- ployed for this reason are victims of labor market ccgluts~~ which have their origins both on the demand and supply sides of the labor market. Given the concentration of women in a limited number of occupa- tional and education fields and the increasing supply of women in the labor market, interskill underemployment is a more likely condition for women than for men. Since the labor requirements of firms are a derived demand, the dv- namics of markets for goods and services and the resultant adjustment processes are bound to favor certain skill groups and disfavor others. Individuals with skills appropriate to disfavored occupations are more likely to be underemployed than are individuals whose skills match the requirements of favored occupations. Layoffs in disfavored occri- pations, and the lack of new iob vacancies in them. can be expected to reduce the marketability of individuals with skills appropriate to these ocoupations. In terms of skill adjustment, the response of labor supply to shifts in demand is generally sluggish. Human capital investments, especiaily for older people, tend to be irreversible due to cost (time) factors. T1~e PAGENO="0145" 137 result of this immobility of skill in the face of declining demand will often be underemployment rather than retraining; the individual is "locked in." Another cause of interskill underemployment is the lag between market signals that indicate declining demand for a skill and reaction to that signal, as revealed by relative declines in the number of gradu- ates trained in that skill. A classic example of the inflexibility of sup- ply in response to signals from the market is the teaching profession, especially elementar~r education, where women comprise a majority. Long after the peak in student enrollments passed in the late 1960's and indications of glut appeared, universities were still expanding pro- grams to train elementary school teachers. The result was a significant excess supply of teachers, some of whom are now either out of the labor force or are still in the labor force but underemployed. To the extent that labor market forecasting can be improved to provide early warn- ing of declines in demand and this information can be more rapidly transmitted to supply sources, the problem will be reduced. Inadequate adjustment to changing demand and supply conditions in the labor market is compounded for women. They face not only the usual imperfections in the labor market, but also must contend with a segregated job market which excludes them from a vast array of job opportunities. Thus, with fewer alternatives, they are less able to ad- just to changes in labor market conditions. However, it should be noted that if proportionately more women than men do not plan or desire continual labor market activity, investments by women in labor market adjustments will be less than for men, since the payoff from that investment will be less for women. One of the major difficulties in empirical research is sorting out factors which prevent women from making desired adjustments in the labor market from those factors which represent voluntary decisions on their part. F. Consequences and Costs of Underemploym~ent The consequences of women's underemployment, whether of the in- traskill or interskill variety, are perhaps self-evident. They include lower earnings for individuals who are unable to utilize their skills consistent with some norm. Since the accumulation of skills is con- tinuous, those individuals who are underemployed will be at a disad- vantage in terms of receiving on-the-job training or work experience which complements their skills. This disadvantage has feedback effects in the sense that their future eligibility for vertical mobility may be impaired. When acquired skills are not utilized in work and the condi- tion is not voluntary, job dissatisfaction and alienation from work are likely outcomes. At a more aggregate level, underemployment repre- sents an inefficient use of human resources. Education represents a highly subsidized industry; to the extent that women are not able ef- fectively to utilize the major public investment made in them, society must bear the burden. This burden comes in the form of higher unft costs of production and the resulting higher prices. Less productive work means less tax revenues for governments, higher costs of welfare, unemployment insurance, and other public assistance programs that respond to labor market dysfunctioning. PAGENO="0146" 138 J'V POLICY IMPLICATIONS FOR REDUCING UNDEREMPLOYMENT OF WOMEN Attempts to reduce underemployment require a wide variety of re- medial measures. The recommendations provided below suggest some ways in which the underemployment problem for women could be re- duced, and `areas where further reaserch efforts are required. The or- dering of priorities within an underemployment policy is likely to depend on the benefits and costs of the various ameliorative measures. Quantification of the problem would clearly provide a helpful guide. Several avenues for continued research are suggested. These would in- clude: More refined measures of differences in returns to human capital investment between men and women with equivalent occupational preparation; `additional quantitative work on discrimination and the role of information in `the hiring `and promotion process; more studies of how women are being integrated into specific occupations; and the development of indexes of occupational attainment in order to monitor the progression of women into traditionally made occupations. Other recommendations `are provided below. A. Fu~ Em~ployment A basic requirement for reducing underemployment is to decrease unemployment. Those women workers who are underemployed have little prospect of overcoming it when there is an excess supply of labor in the job market. On the other hand, under conditions of full employ- ment, when it becomes more difficult for employers to find qualified males for jobs, qualified minorities including women are more likely to be hired. That is, the cost of search for males under conditions of full employment will approach the cost of search for females, or may even exceed it. The use of unrealistic hiring standards and dependence on credentialism would decrease. Given that qualified women will be taken into more diverse occupations under a full employment policy1 employers' information about women's performance on the job will increase; consequently, there will be less prejudicial discrimination in the future. Discrimination on the part of employers and male em- ployees can also be expected to fall as women are integrated into tradi- tionally male occupations. An additional ameliorative effect of full em- ployment is that more revenues would be available ~o Government to attack other sources of underemployment of women. On the other hand, with high unemployment, programs of many kinds tend to be restricted in scope and funding. In sum, both the pri- vate sector and the Government sector will be more receptive to minor- ity labor force groups under conditions of full employment than under cOnditions where considerable labor market slack exists. B. The Hiring Process The screening process that employers use for hiring and promotion is a valuable source of labor market information to them. However, the line between legitimate use of screening and labor, market dis- crimination is blurred. Yet it is often at the point of hiring where underemployment of women commences and occupational segregation begins. Inadequate empirical evidence in this area `makes it difficult to PAGENO="0147" 139 formulate government policy. Women's skills will continue to be un- derutilized if unequal treatment is experienced in the hiring or promo- tion process. Government policy should encourage the Equal Employ- ment Opportunity Commission in its enforcement of title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and in the resolution of the very difficult question as to which hiring standards or screening procedures are, in fact, related to job performance. This will necessarily lead to intru- sion into the personnel policies of private firms, which may be justi- fied, since those private policies have wide external social effects on women. C. Labor Market Information The imperfectlabor market information which causes underemploy- ment of women occurs on several levels; therefore policies to improve it should be addressed across a broad front. First, improved methods of forecasting demand for labor requirements of industry and supply of skills will result in a better match between women workers and jobs. Improved estimates at both the national and regional level would be helpful. Identification of new and emerging occupations, as well as more information on the link between occupations, are important. We need to know more about how occupations are linked in terms of transferability of skills among them, e.g., the use of an organizing skill~ in a political campaign to raise funds or to increase the mem- bership of an organization. This information would assist in identify- ing the most flexible types of skill training and education. Second, although we have extensive occupational information already, there are impediments to its efficient use. For example, there could be considerably more cooperation among education guidance counselors, labor market statisticians, and employers. Third, there is a need for more detailed local labor market infor- mation to assist local vocational educators and prime sponsors who receive funds under the Comprehensive Employment and Training Act (1973). Given the trend toward decentralization, State and loca~1 areas should be responsible and accountable for education and train- ing. This will require better local labor market information and co- operative planning among local manpower officials, employers, educa- tional institutions, unions, and civil rights groups. The development of local planning models incorporating these elements should be en- couraged to assist in identifying the costs and effectiveness of alterna- tive strategies. At a minimum, this planning process would make it more difficult to exclude women from a wide range of both educational and occupational choices. D. Counseling Traditional educational counseling of women students does not appear to have had much demonstrable impact on widening the voca- tional choices that women make. Occupational crowding of women is in part due to the segregation of jobs in the labor market, but it also stems from pre-job educational choices that women make. The root of these choices is not easily understood, but it would appear that the emphasis on traditional counseling might better be replaced by "counseling in the classroom." This would commence in the early years. A major objective would be to improve women's awareness of PAGENO="0148" 140 the world of work long before a career decision is made. This would require an improved awareness and sensitivity on the part of teachers in general. Since sex stereotyping in education and employ- ment has its roots in early formative years, policies to reduce these effects should be directed toward the classroom long before more ortho- dox counseling takes place. E. On-the-Job T~aining and Cooperative Education An important source of education is on-the-job training, which is provided in many forms from simple work experience to highly formalized training. The purpose ranges from socializing newly hired employees in a particular organization to teaching real skills. One negative aspect of on-the-job training as a form of education is that it may be very specific and uncertified; therefore, it may be less trans- ferable than in-school training. The most obvious positive characteris- tic of on-the-job training is that it provides learning experience at the workplace; therefore, other factors being equal, the probability is that an employee will end up working in the area of his/her training. There is a need to look more closely at the effectiveness and cost of cooperative or work experience education programs. More information is required on how formal education and on-the-job training can inter- act. That is, what types of formal education lead to particular types of on-the-job training and how does this interaction influence earnings and employment outcomes. Cooperative education, where students coin- bine work experience and formal education at the same time, provides a clear avenue for placing more women into diverse employment situa.tions early in life. In this regard, more interaction between eclu- cators and employers to develop cooperative programs would be bene- ficial. (This includes 4-year institutions, junior colleges, vocational and comprehensive secondary schools.) F. Paraprofessioncdism Paraprofessionals normally work under the supervision of a pro- fessional and perform tasks formerly reserved for the latter. An innovative expansion of paraprofessionalism could be expected to reduce underemployment in two ways: (1) upper level professionals would be permitted to spend additional time performing tasks which more closely reflect their particular expertise in that they would be relieved of many duties which can just as effectively be performed by other less highly qualified professionals: (2) persons capable of pro- viding many professional services, but who are prevented from doing so by rigid work rules, leave underemployment behind when para- professional jobs are created to utilize their skills. A successful para- professional program would harness the concept of continuing or recurrent education and on-the-job training to create more flexible career ladders for those individuals who cannot or do not take the normal professional education paths. The advancement of parapro- fessionals to full professional status would require action by the pro- fessions themselves, the education system, a.nd govermnent. PAGENO="0149" 141 G. Part-time Work Most jobs still require employees to work a standard workweek. The part-time labor market is restricted largely to unskilled jobs with the result that skilled or professionally trained individuals who take part- time jobs have a high probability of being underemployed. Women with family duties, older workers, and the handicapped could all benefit from innovative efforts to provide professional jobs on a part- time basis. Both private and public employers should consider the merits of flexible and part-time work schedules, so that they might take advantage of underutilized professionals. More enlightened work scheduling would reduce underemployment for many women and pro- vide more satisfying jobs in the part-time labor market. In addition, the provision of high quality part-time work would prevent part-time workers' professional skills from eroding through inadequate use. H. Nontraditional Education for Women Increasing the range of educational choice for women will help alleviate underemployment. More emphasis should be placed on devel- oping nontraditional careers for women. Many education and training programs that are curently considered to be "male" programs should encourage female participation. Expansion of opportunties could reduce underemployment in three ways: (1) by cutting down future occupational crowding, (~) by removing psychological barriers that women may have toward jobs and educational programs which have been traditionally male, and (3) by removing both current and future biases that males may have toward women in traditionally male jobs and educational programs. CoNcLusIoN In the United States and in other countries, it took society many years to realize that individuals can fall into unemployment as unwill- ing victims; the Great Depression made this fact obvious. With the Employment Act of 1946, the Federal Government took major respon- sibility for preventing unemployment, a condition no longer deemed to be a reflective of inadequate individual motivation. In the same way, underemployment may result from factors beyond individuals' control. Inadequate transferability of skills because of limited options for midcareer education and training is one barrier that can turn transitional underemployment into a permanent condition. The devel- opment of education as a lifelong process would help remove this barrier by easing transfers between occupations and by certifying women for jobs for which credentialism would otherwise have dis- qualified them. Because women's education or job activities are more likely to be interrupted due to family responsibilities, recurrent educa- tion could be helpful in reducing future underemployment for them. PAGENO="0150" LIFETIME. PARTICIPATION IN THE LABOR FORCE AND UNEMPLOYMENT AMONG MATURE WOMEN B~ STEVEN H. SANDELL * ~ CONTENTS Page. I. Labor force participation of mature women__ 143 A. Barriers to full labor force participation of mature women_ -- 143 B. Age discrimination 145 C. Incorrect expectations and employment problems of women__ 145 II. Unemployment among mature women 147 A. The measurement and interpretation of unemployment rates_ 147 B. Specific human capital and female unemployment -- 149 C. Job search behavior of mature women 150 III. Conclusions 151 The problems that mature women 1 face in the labor force are often a consequence of their family responsibilities. Interrupted work ex- perience leads to low wages, reduced labor force participation, and high unemployment-the three most important labor market problems of mature women. The expectation of labor force withdrawal influ- ences womenis career choices and this, in turn, affects the amount of on-the-job training they receive and their pay. Thus, the impact of childrearing is felt not only while children are in the household. but before they are present and after they are no longer a direct impedi- ment to labor force activities. Government policies to improve the employment position of mature women should include vigorous enforcement of laws designed to pre- vent sex discrimination, a commitment to full employment, and pro- grams that are specifically designed to help mature women increase their jobs skills and then find productive employment. The relationship between lifetime work experience and the labor market problems of mature women affirms the need for policies tha.t insure equal treatment for women in the home as well as in the office and factory. Equality in aspects of life other than the labor market is necessary to produce tt total improvement in the employment position of mature women. Section I of this paper discusses the causes and consequences of the lifetime labor force participation pattern for women. Several *Assistant professor of economics and research associate, Center for Human Resource Research, Ohio State University, Columbus. Ohio. *~The author would like to thank the Center for Human Resource Research for financial support for this paper. Rex Johnson and Pete Koenig for their research assistance, and Patricia Greene for editorial assistai~ce. Numerous helpful comments were provided by Belton Fleisher. Tom Chirikos, and Herbert Parnes. Errors that remain are the author's own responsibility. The original research on which this paper was based was prepared under a contract with the Manpower Administration, U.S. Department of Labor, under authority of the Manpower Development and Training Act. Interpretations and viewpoints are those of the author and do not necessarily renresent the official position of the Department of Labor. 1 For purposes of this study, the term "mature women" Includes all women from age ~O through the end of their work lives, including never-married, married, previously married, with or without children. (142) PAGENO="0151" 143 aspects of unemployment among mature women are analyzed in sec- tion II. Interspersed throughout the paper and summarized in section III are the policy implications of the analysis. I. LABOR FORCE PARTICIP4TION OF MATURE WOMEN Standard economic models used to analyze labor supply of married women view the decision to work in a family context.2 Three alternative uses are available for the wife's time: Work in the home (e.g., cooking, child care, etc.) ; work in the labor market; and leisure. The allocation of the wife's time among these activities depends on her net market wage, other family income, her home productivity, and the family's preferences and tastes. The expected effects of some of these factors are discussed below. The wife's market wage (net of direct costs of employment) is ex- pected to influence her labor force participation. The higher the avail- able market wage, other things being equal, the more likely `a woman is to seek market work.3 Variables that reflect the ease or difficulty of obtaining a job (such as the area unemployment rate) change the net return to labor force participation by affecting the cost of job search and can often be considered analogous to the money wage rate in their effect. Likewise, nonpecuniary returns to employment are similar to wages in their effect on the participation of women. The wife's per- sonaJ taste for market work and the views of her husband, both pos- sibly conditioned by attitudes prevalent in society, affect the non- pecuniary return to market work. The wife's home productivity is determined by her abilities and her family's demand for home goods and services which, in turn, depends on income and tastes. Although not often directly observable, home productivity might be assumed to be positively associated with the number of children in the household and inversely associated with the ages of the children. The higher her home productivity, the lower is the likelihood that the woman `is in the labor force. A. Barriers to the Full Labor Force Participation of Mature Women The economist's framework is useful in examining the effects `of skill depreciation, the presence of children and `availability of child care facilities, and the husband's attitudes toward his wife's labor force participation. Implicit in the discussion of the employment problems of mature women are policy suggestions for lowering barriers to their full participation in the labor market. Table 1 shows the lengLh of work intervals and home time segments for women who were 30 to 44 years of age in 1967.~ A comparison of the data for mothers with those for childless women demonstrates that a very substantial barrier to full labor force participation is women's 2 See, for example: Glen G. Cain, "Married Women in the Labor Force: An Economic Analysis" (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1966). Jacob Mincer, "Labor Force Participation of Married Women: A Study of Labor Supply," in "Aspects of Labor Economics," National Bureau of Economic Research (Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 1962), pp. 63-106. Mincer, op. cit., attributed the dominance of the substitution effect over the income effect of a higher market wage for the wife to the availability of many home work activities which can serve as substitutes for market work. 4 Estimates of an econometric model of the lifetime participation of married women are contained In Steven H. Sandell, "Lifetime Labor Force Participation of Married Women" (unpublished inimeo, Ohio State University, 1976). PAGENO="0152" 144 assumed responsibility to care for their children. The. availability of child care facilities would free women with very young children for market work. Day camps that would operate after school and on holidays, along with school lunch programs, would increase the labor force options of mothers of school-aged children. TABLE 1.-YEARS OF WORK EXPERIENCE AND YEARS OUT OF THE LABOR FORCE OF WOMEN BY MAR1TAL STATUS AND RACE Int erval means Group hi e1 h2 e2 h3 e~ 2e ~h S Sample size White, with children: Married once, spouse present 0. 76 Remarried, spouse present . 55 Widowed 1.41 3. 47 2. 52 4.24 8. 32 6. ii 8.90 1.91 4.39 3.44 3. 64 5.24 2.66 2. 56 2.65 2.63 7. 95 9. 55 10.32 12.71 11.90 12.98 11. 60 10. 35 11.41 1, 848 308 41 Divorced .93 3.00 5.90 4.92 3.59 3.09 11.01 10.42 10.71 125 Separated 1. 02 White, childless: Married once, spouse present 1.70 Never married 1. 08 3. 81 5. 43 6. 66 6. 67 0 0 3.96 4. 43 0 3. 02 3. 73 2. 34 2. 35 5. 51 8. 25 10. 13 15. 37 14. 92 10.70 5. 44 3.41 10. 26 11. 62 12. 52 54 131 157 Black, with children: Married once, spouse present 1. 17 Remarried, spouse present 1. 28 Widowed 1.16 Divorced .86 Separated 1. 32 Black, childless: Married once, spouse present 3. 22 Never married 3. 43 1. 86 2. 02 1.91 1.36 1. 60 5.02 7. 61 5. 67 4.79 6.72 3.95 4. 32 0 0 4. 15 6. 69 4.07 7.07 6.76 4. 32 0 4. 21 4. 82 5.44 3.14 4. 39 3. 05 3.73 3. 75 3. 83 4.78 4.56 2. 82 5. 93 6. 89 9. 76 12. 54 10.76 12.99 11. 18 15. 27 14. 50 11. 06 10. 89 13.32 7.96 9.77 6.27 7. 16 10. 08 9.71 9.15 10.37 9. 58 11. 56 11. 32 525 146 68 70 170 41 44 Note: hi-years not worked between school and 1st job; e1-years worked between school and birth of 1st child (for childless married women, equals years worked between school and 1st marriage; for never-marrieds, equals years worked prior to current job); hi-years not worked between marriage and 1st job after birth of 1st child; ei-years worked after hx prior to 1967 job (for childless married women, equls years worked between 1st marriage and start of 1967 job); h3-years not worked following 1st job after birth of 1st child (i.e., since returning to the labor force at the end of hi); ei-years on 1967 job which occurred after birth of 1st child; xe-years worked since school; ~h-years of nonparticipation since school; S-years of schooling. Source: The National Longitudinal Survey of Women aged 30-44, Center for Human Resource Research, (Columbus. Ohio: The Ohio State University, 1967). Also see Sandell and Shapiro. `The Theory of Human Capital and the Earnings of Women: A Reexamination of the Evidence" (unpublished mimeo, the Ohio State University, 1976). Of course, the allocation of some child care responsibilities to the husband would lead to greater equality in the labor market as well as in the household. If home work were shared more equally between marital partners, their labor force participation rates could become more equal. Moreover, the words of husbands, as well as their deeds, seem to affect the labor force behavior of married women. Women who perceive favorable attitudes of their husbands toward their working have greater lifetime participation than other women.5 Since the women who command higher market wages are more likely than other women to work, it follows that increasing pay to mature women would augment their labor force participation. Thus, it is im- portant to understand the determinants of women's earnings if G-ov- ernment policy is to be directed toward increasing the employment of mature women. Lower wages attributable to skill depreciation during the dhildrea.ring period implies reduced labor force participation sub- sequently. A recent study of women's e.arnings concluded that each year a woman spends out of the labor force, her potential wage is reduced by one-half of 1 percent.° Thus, in table 1 the typical white married woman with children and spouse present ha.d her potential ° Ibid., p. 17. 6 Steven H. Sandell and David Shapiro, "The Theory of Human Capital and the Earnings of Women A Reexamination of the Evidence" (unpublished mlmeo, the Ohio State Univer- sity, 1976), p. 5. PAGENO="0153" 145 market wage reduced 15 cents in 1967. In other words, childrearing has the effect of reducing labor force participation after children are fully grown as well as when they are present in the household. It seems that mature women's labor supply would be increased if they were able to hold part-time jobs that facilitated the maintenance of job skills dur- ing the childrearing period. Of course, retraining programs for women returning to the labor force could have the same result. B. Age Discrimination The Age Discrimination in Employment Act of 1967 established the public policy of promoting employment opportunities based on ability rather than age for people who are over 40 years old. Since the labor force participation rate of women in this age group has increased dramatically since 1950, the question of age discrimination is a particu- larly important concern in examining their labor market problems. Although Federal law prohibits discrimination by age in hiring, job retention, and compensation, this policy is often difficult to enforce. While the Employment Standards Administration of the Department of Labor has been successful in stopping many firms from using arbi- trary age limits beyond which they would not consider a person for a. particular job, other practices that adversely affect older women are more difficult to prevent. These include establishing minimal, formal educational requirements for certain jobs and promoting workers on the basis of seniority. The common practice of choosing persons from within instead of hiring from outside the firm for high level positions impacts adversely on older women. Since intermittent labor force participation of these women is associated with shorter tenure within a particular firm, the. likelihood of their jc~b advancement is lower than for persons with the same total labor market experience but longer tenure at the finn. Thus, a policy of internal promotion can be viewed as de facto age discrimi- nation against women. Formal educational requirements or recruiting new employees through college placement offices can result in unfavorable treatment of older women workers. If the firm is not willing to consider a woman's life and work experience as a substitute for a formal education require- inent, older persons who on average have less schooling than younger persons will find it difficult to obtain good jobs. When hiring require- ments are flexible and if the employer recruits exclusively on college campuses, older women will not have information about the avail- ability of certain positions and, thus, will not be considered for employment. C. Incorrect Expectations and Employment Problems of Women Training is profitable to a worker if the increase in earnings attribu- table to it is greater than its cost. Hence, the profitability and the receipt of training are positively related to the expected duration of future labor force participation. To the extent that underestimation of future labor force participation leads to a lack of interest in formal and on-the-job training, some women are faced with poor occupational opportunities when and if they do decide to enter the labor market. Unrealistically low expectations of future labor market participation PAGENO="0154" 146 can create a self-fulfilling prophecy if these little-trained women are offered low wages and, hence, choose not to accept employment. Two cohorts from the National Longitudinal Surveys7 (women 14 to 24 and women 30 to 44 years of age) are used to compare the labor force expectations (at age 35) of young women to the actual labor force experience of women who have attained that age. Table 2 shows the responses of the younger group of women to the question "What would you like to be doing when you `are 35 years old ~" It also provides the actual labor market status of women 30 to 44 years of age. Young women are categorized by expected education and older women by actual education completed at the time of the survey. Although we will not attempt a thorough analysis of labor market expectations in this paper, the following results seem clear from the tables presented. Young women in `almost all educati'on groups seri- ously underestimate their future labor force participation as judged by the actual experience of older women. Many women who are currently facing difficulties in the labor market undoubtedly had such unrealis- tic expectations in the past. To the extent that current trends in female labor force participation continue into the future, the underestimates by young women today `are even more serious than indicated in the tables. It is interesting to note that black women seem to underestimate their future labor force participation less than white women. Blacks between 14 and 24 years of age predict a labor force participation rate of 59 percent compared to an actual rate of 67 percent. Whites predict, `at age 35, a rate of 29 percent compared to `an actual rate of 48 percent. TABLE 2.-WORK EXPECTATIONS AT AGE 35 OF YOUNG WOMEN COMPARED TO ACTUAL EMPLOYMENT STATUS OF MATURE WOMEN Education 1 11 yr or less 12 yr 13 to 15 yr 16 plus years Total Whites: Percent young women expecting to work at age 3523 Percent of mature women in labor force° (4) 46. 6 26. 8 47. 6 18. 1 46. 8 32. 7 54. 5 28. 6 47. 7 Blacks: Percent of young women expecting to work at age 35 2 3 Percent of mature women in labor force 0 (4) 59.4 62. 1 69. 4 60. 6 72. 5 57.7 96. 6 59.3 66. 5 I Refers to expected educational attainment for young women, completed education for mature ~.`omen. 2 National Longitudinal Survey of Women aged 14 to 24 in 1968. 3 Excludes those answering "don't know," "not applicable," or "other." 4 Excludes those answering educational attainment of 11 yr or less. Respondents from the National Longitudinal Survey of Women 30 to 44 in 1967. A clear implication for policy may be drawn from these findings: women need more guidance in preparing realistically for their future lives. This guidance could be given in high school, through the media, or through the employment service. Young women should be made aware of the extended periods in the labor force that they will prob- ably face during their mature years. They might then be more likely to seek training opportunities and to prepare themselves in other ways for eventual employment. ~ "National Longitudinal Survey of Women Aged 30 to 44," Center for Human Resource Research (Columbus, Ohio: Ohio State University, 1967). Ibid., "Aged `14 to 24," 1968. PAGENO="0155" 147 II. UNEMPLOYMENT AMONG 1i~uim WOMEN This section examines several facets of unemployment among mature women. First, problems related to the measurement of female unem- ployment are examined. The effect of labor force withdrawal and reen- trance on the interpretation of the published unemployment statistics is discussed. Second, some important factors contributing to high un- employment among mature women are examined. Women's lifetime labor force participation patterns limit their training opportunities and their occupational choices, which in turn often increase the likeli- hood of their suffering unemployment. Finally, some preliminary find- irigs from a recent study of job search behavior of mature women with recent work experience are presented. A. The Measurement and Interpretation of Unemployment Rates Considerable care must be used in interpreting the published statis- tics on unemployment of women because of the high incidence of la~bor force withdrawal and reentrance among this segment of the popula- tion. These statistical problems distort the magnitude of unemploy- ment among several groups of women and thus disguise the causes and thwart proper prescription of public policy to reduce unemployment among women. The Women's Bureau explains the difference between the unemploy- ment rates of adult men and adult women in April 1974 as follows: Entry and re-entry into the labor force accounted for 1.7 percentage point, of the 4.6 percent unemployment rate for adult women, but for only 0.7 of the 3.6 percent rate for adult men. Were it not for the inclusion of unemployment caused by entry and re-entry, the rates for these women and men would have been the same-2.9 percent.8 However, the high unemployment rate for entrants and reentrants is in one sense an artifact of the Bureau of Labor Statistics' definition of unemployment. Women moving from "employment" as housewives in the nonmarket sector to paid employment are treated differently from persons who change jobs within the market sector. The former are always defined as unemployed while seeking other work, while the latter are counted as unemployed only if they are among the approxi- mately 50 percent of job switchers who search for other jobs after leaving those they have had.9 If this ratio were applied to reentrants, the (adult) female unemployment rate would have been lowered 1.3 percentage points from 8 percent to 6.7 percent in 1975. Since males are less likely to have been "employed" in nonmarket work, a similar calculation reduces the male unemployment ratio only 0.5 percentage points to 4.6 percent. Thus, using this adjustment to the unemploy- ment rates for reentrants (instead of not counting them among the unemployed at all, as is implied by the Women's Bureau's adjustment), the unemployment rate for (adult) females is 45 percent greater than for males. Even if one considers the unemployment of a particular group of entrants and reentrants into the labor force as a temporary problem ~U.S. Department of Labor, Women's Bureau, "1975 Handbook on Women Workers," bulletin 297 (Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office, 1975), pp. 67-68. Peter J. Mattila, "Job Quitting and Frictional Unemployment," American Economic Review 64 No 1 (March 1974) pp 235-239 PAGENO="0156" 148 and unimportant. for policy purposes, it would be incorrect to draw the conclusion that a sex difference in unemployment does not exist. The adjustment procedure is asymmetric because it ignores labor force withdrawal, a phenomenon which is substantially larger for women. For example, in 1974, while 7.5 million women entered the labor force, almost 6.2 million withdrew.1° The comparable statistics for men are 4.8 million entrants and 3.9 million leavers. If one subtracts the num- ber of labor force leavers from the total of entrants and reentrants, an adjustment for the net number of entrants can be made. With this pro- cedure it is clear that the unemployment rate for women is substan- tially higher than that for men. Women who withdrew from the labor force, even if they were fired from their previous job, are not counted as unemployed. We will dem- onstrate that the statistical bias caused by not counting "discouraged" workers as unemployed leads to a more significant understatement of the unemployment rate in typically female t.han in typically male occu- pations. This in turn has perhaps concealed the relationship between the occupational distribution of women and their "true" unemploy- ment experience. While a number of researchers have shown that women are concentrated in occupations different from men and that the difference between male and female earnings is consistent with the "crowding" hypothesis, there has been little evidence that the occupational concentration is responsible for the higher unemploy- ment rates of women. In fact, using the census' mine major occupa- tional categories, two recent studies ~` found that if women had the same occupational distribution as men, the female unemployment rate would have been higher. However, this conclusion might well be altered if the high evidence of labor force withdrawal among married women were taken into account. Since the typically female occupations require little investment in human capital, firms do not penalize women in these occupations for withdrawal from the labor force. For example, firms are not willing to pay large wage premiums to discourage typists from quitting. In other occupations, such as business managers, there is a considerable wage premium to encourage continued tenure with a particular firm. Since women who leave the labor force often have a weaker commitment to market work, they are more likely than other women to work in "fe- male occupations." Furthermore, women who lose their jobs are more likely to withdraw from the labor force, rather than be counted as unemployed, if they previously worked in "female occupations." Since the National Longitudinal Surveys' (NLS) data identify the previous occupation as well as the labor force status of women who have lost their jobs, an empirical test of this supposition is presented below. Table 3 examines the relationship between the proportion of women in an occupation and the likelihood that women in that occupa- tion who exit from the ranks of the employed withdraw from the labor force (rather than report themselves as being unemployed). Colunrn 1 10 U.S. Department of Labor and U.S. Department of Health, Education, and Welfare. "Employment and Training Report of the President" (Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office, 1976), pp. 213, 231. 11Marianne A. Ferber and Helen M. Lowry, "Women: The New Reserve Army of the Un- employed," In "Women and the Workplace: The Implications of Occupational Segrega- tion." Edited by Martha Blaxall and Barbara Reagan (Chicago: University of Chicago Press. 1976), pp. 213-232. Nancy S. Barrett and Richard D. Morgenstern, "Why Do Blacks and Women Have High Unemployment Rates?" Journal of Human Resources 9, No. 4 (fall 1974), pp. 452-464. PAGENO="0157" 149 shows that, among those women not working at the time of the 1972 survey, the propensity to drop out of the labor force instead of becom- ing unemployed is larger if the previous job has been in a typically female occupation. Column 2 shows that among women employed in 1967, a higher percentage of those employed in typically female rather than typically male occupations said they would drop out of the labor force if they were to lose their jobs. Thus, labor force withdrawal results in a systematic understatement of unemployment in occupations with high concentrations of women compared to those occupations where women work less frequently. TABLE 3-RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN LABOR FORCE STATUS AND TYPICALITY OF OCCUPATION OF CURRENT OR LAST JOB Percent of Percent of women with recent work experience who working women who said they would leave the were out of the labor force if Typicality of most recent occupation 1 labor force (1972) 2 they lost their jobs (1967) 3 4 most typically female categories 4 least typically female categories 87. 0 77. 7 36. 0 24. 6 The atypicality index measures the difference for sach 3-digit occupational category between women as a percentage of all workers in that occupation and women as a percentage of the total experienced civilian labor force in 1970. (Sources: U.S. Bureau of the Census, census of population: 1970, subject reports, Final Report PC (2)-7A, occupational characteristics (Washington: U.S. Govarnment Printing Office), table 1 and John A. Priebe, Joan Heinkel, and Stanlee Greene, "1970 Occupation and Industry Classification Systems in Terms of Thair 1960 Occupation and Industry Elements," U.S. Bureau of the Census Technical Paper No. 26 (Washington, U.S. Government Printing Office, 1972.)) Example: In 1970, women were 38.1 percent of the experienced civilian labor force; 4.6 percent of all architects and 97.5 percent of all professional nurses were women. Hence, the atypicality index or occupational code 013 (architects) is -335 (46-381). The index value for code 150 (professional nurses) is 594 (975-381). 2 Sample: White women, married with spouse present and worked 2 or more weeks in 1971. Sample: White women, married with spouse present and with a job during 1967 survey week. 4 Atypicality index values +280 to +999. Atypicality index values -380 to +77. Source: NLS of women 30 to 44 in 1967. B. Specific Human Capital and Female Unemployment The term "firm-specific human capital" refers to training that in- creases the productivity of workers in their jobs only within the firm making the investment. The firm pays for the training and reaps a return derived from the difference between a worker's increased pro- ductivity and her posttraining wage. The existence of firm-financed specific training yields important im- plications concerning the behavior of firms vis-a-vis women. The pro- ductivity increase a:ssociated with specific human capital creates a spread between the worker's output and the wage rate. Hence, a small decrease in productivity associated with a business downturn would be less likely to lead to the dismissal of an individual with specific training than one whose wage had been equal to her productivity. Due to their intermittent labor force participation and "involun- tary" migration associated with their husbands' dominating job op- portunities, women's expected tenure with a particular firm is shorter than men's. Firms are less willing to make investments in women if the profitability of their investment is thwarted by women's quitting. As a result of profit-maximizing behavior of the firm and the lesser firm- specific human capital embodied in female employees, women will often be the first to be laid off when business becomes poor. However, employment opportunities would become available first for women PAGENO="0158" 150 during cyclical upturns. The specific human capital phenomenon ex- plains the greater cyclical sensitivity of female compared with male unemployment rates, and the gre.ater job turnover of women partially explains sex differences in the level of unemployment.12 C. Job Search Behavior of Mature Women According to the economic theory of job search, the unemployed worker chooses a "reservation" wage, below which she will not accept a job offer. The persons' job search strategy is reflected by the reserva- tion wage. If the reservation wage chosen is too high, then the cost of the worker of earnings lost during the job search is greater than the~ extra earnings gained from finding the higher paying job. A reserva- tion wage that is too low means the worker should have tried to find a higher paying job, since the earnings gain from that job would exceed the earnings foregone in additional unemployment. It was possible to investigate the labor market behavior of unemployed women using the NLS data. Information contained in these surveys allowed the exam- ination of the determinants of reservation wage, the duration of un- employment, and the post-unemployment rate of pay for a sample of married women who were unemployed between 1967 and 1972. Pre- liminary results from the study indicate that unemployed women who have had recent work experience conduct their job search in a. maimer that can be considered to be rational from the point of view of eco- nomic theory. The reservation wage reported by unemployed married women seems to be systematically related to the wage they received at their most re- cent job and the average wage received by employed women with equivalent education and labor market experience. Women whose hus- bands have high labor market earnings and women who receive un- employment compensation report higher asking wages than other women. Women who did not leave their previous job voluntarily re- ported lower reservation wages than women who quit. Furthermore, women adjust their asking wages downward as the period of unem- ployment lengthens. This continuous reduction, 1 to 2 cents per hour for each week of unemployment, could reflect the revision of expecta- tions in the light of increased knowledge of job opportunities. The conceptual framework used to study the duration of unemploy- ment of married women is straightforward. By definition, a. job will be accepted by an unemployed woman if the offered wage is greater than the job seeker's reservation wage. The probability of accepting a job within a certain time period is equal to the probability of receiving a job offer in that period multiplied by the probability that the asso- ciated wage offer is higher than the person's asking wage. The preliminary results of regression analysis using NLS da.ta in- dicated that: (1) Longer spells of unemployment were associated with greater divergence (in a positive direction) between the asking wage and the wage that women with similar personal characteristics re- ceived.13 (2) Women who lost their jobs experienced seven weeks more 12 For a discussion of the relationship of employment stability and unemployment rates, see Stephen T. Marston, "Employment Instability and High Unemployment Rates," Brook- ings Papers on Economic Activity 1 (Washington, D.C.: 1976), pp. 169-203. `~ Although women suffer a longer period of unemployment when they ask for higher wages, they are rewarded with higher paying jobs. In fact, the preliminary results seem to Indicate that, based on financial considerations alone, the average married woman could profitably spend a longer period of time in job search activities and, thereafter, be rewarded with higher wages. PAGENO="0159" 151 unemployment than women who had left their previous jobs volun- tarily. (3) On the average, a 1-percentage-point increase in the area unemployment rate was associated with an additional week of unem- ployment for married women. The last result emphasizes the interaction between overall economic conditions and unemployment among women. The analysis described here used a sample of married women who have worked for pay since 1966. For this group of women, the duration of unemployment( and, hence, their unemployment rate) is affected by the general conditions in the labor market. There would also be fewer involuntary job termin- ations in a more prosperous economy, so both the incidence and the duration of unemployment for women would be lower. These prelim- inary results indicate the propitious effect that Government commit- ment to full employment will have on those (married) women already in the labor force, in addition to the favorable effect it will have on the labor force participation among mature women. III. CoNcLusIoNs To a large degree, the position of mature women in the labor market reflects their past acceptance of family and household responsibilities. Labor force withdrawal weakens both their employers' and their own incentives to invest in their human capital. These problems are com- pounded by sex discrimination. While there is a role Government policy can play in alleviating em- ployment problems faced by mature women, they will only experience substantial labor market equality with men when their home and career orientations are similar. Only after equal labor force experiences are realized by men and women in their 20's and 30's will they be treated as equals in their 40's and 50's. The most important role Government can play is to insure that today's yoirng women are aware of the conse- quences of labor force withdrawal and lack of training. Throughout the paper there have been allusions to specific labor market policies that could help mature women. These include making available day care facilities and retraining opportunities to women. An- other important aid to mature women is to encourage them to use pri- vate employment agencies and the public employment services. The latter could be directed to cater to the special needs of mature women. Currently, only 29 percent of women who search for jobs compared with 37 percent of the men use the State employment service.14 Finally, the Federal Government should vigorously enforce laws that provide equal opportunity for women. There is ample evidence that women respond to economic incentives in the.ir training and job search behavior. If the job opportunities and the wages of mature women have been reduced by discrimination, they have lower labor force participation and suffer more unemployment than in a truly egalitarian labor market.15 If women's treatment by employers and their labor force participation expectations are similar to men's, their labor market experience will be equal. 14 "1975 Handbook on Women Workers," p. 74. 15 See Sandell and Shapiro, op. cit. The difference In work experience accounts for only 25 percent of the male-female wage gap. PAGENO="0160" PAGENO="0161" Part III. SUPPORT SERVICES AND ADJUSTED CONDITIONS (153) 9i-6SG~-77 ---li PAGENO="0162" PAGENO="0163" THE HOMEMAKER, THE FAMILY, AND EMPLOYMENT B~ NONA GLAZER, LINDA MAJKA, JOAN ACKER, AND CHRISTINE BosE * ** CONTENTS Page. I. Introduction 155 II. Employment 157 III. Child care 159 IV. Housework 160 V. Leisure 162 VI. Ilousing 162 VII. Recommendations for legislation on the family 163 A. Principles 163 B. Family support systems - 164 1. Facilities for family functions 164 2. Employment -- 166 3. Education__ 167 4. Housing and community design - 168 5. Food services 168 6. Household services 169 VIII. Conclusion 169 I. INTRODUCTION Women's family lives and work lives are inseparable. A vicious cir- cle exists in which the assignment by society of housework and child care to women, sex inequality ingrained in our mores, and the labor force experiences of women, interact continually to reinforce the worst features of each. On the one hand, the family responsibilities of women limit markedly their ability to earn a reasonable living in meaningful work. In the absence of support systems, they find it difficult to meet the formal requirement of work continuity in order to gain job promo- tions and salary increases; they find it difficult to have time for train- ing or retraining outside the normal hours of the workday; thus, their work continuity and training opportunities are interrupted by family responsibilities and family crises. On the other hand, women's work ex- Periences make it difficult for them to develop and maintain sound f am- ily lives. Women are concentrated in psychologically deadening low- skill jobs with low pay, often without fringe benefits. The economic deprivation and meaninglessness of the work sometimes combine to provoke concern about family responsibilities and economic problems. Furthermore, women are notoriously underemployed. They often work in jobs which are well below the level of their abilities and for- mal education and experience high rates of unemployment. The very :Nona Glazer is a professor of sociology: Linda Majka is an assistant professor of sod- olo~v. Portland State University, Portland. Orer. : Joan Acker is an associate professor, University of Oregon. Eugene, Oreg. ; and Christine Bose is an assistant professor of sociology, University of Washington, Seattle. Wash. :Appl.pciation is expressed to the Graduate School and the Sociology Department at Portland State University for clerical support. (155) PAGENO="0164" 156 existence of sex-typed jobs, which are accompanied by discriminatory rates of pay and low status, in turn contributes to the persistence of sex-stereotyping within family patterns, that is, assignment of the primary responsibility for home and children to women, because the rational economic decision for most families facing a choice is that the higher paid man should work outside the home and the lower paid woman in the home. Today it is not a question, however, of whether or not women with family responsibilities ought to combine work in the labor force and work in the home. Rather, we must deal with the reality that millions of women do work: In 49 out of 100 husband-wife families where the husband is employed the wife is also working.1 Employed mothers with children under 18 years include 13.6 million women, representing 46 percent of all such mothers and 38 percent of all employed women.2 Among 7.2 million families headed only by women, and includ- ing 9 million children, 54 percent of the women were in the labor force.3 The employed wife contributes, on the average, about 25 percent of the family's income, and keeps a sizable proportion of families out of poverty, or just at the poverty line.4 The overall length of the worklife expectancy of American wo- mefl has increased from 6.3 years in 1900 to 22.9 years in 1970, still below the average for men, but nonetheless a considerable number of years.5 We must recognize that the family has been accused over and over a~ain of being the source of many social problems in American society. Yet, we have been unwilling to provide the basic essential services which would support an adequate family life and family stability in a cornp1ex~ urban society. Married women in the labor force and women heading families must be recognized as multiple jobholders. Multiple jobholding now has a very narrow meaning_"moonlighting"_which refers to holding a sec- onci paid job to meet regular expenses.6 Our failure to recognize house- work and child care as work comes from the archaic view that work onPv includes activities that bring earnings. If our views of housework were revised to acknowledge that what the homemaker does is work, we would not continue to let emuloyecl women carry an undue burden without society's encouragement and aid. The everyday life of the average employed wife and mother is far different from the "ideal" lives of women who are married to men prominent in business. t.he pro- féssibns, and government; unlike these latter women, 70 to 80 percent 1 Howard Hayghe, "Marital and Family Characteristics of the Labor Force. March i075" S~wcial Labor Force Report 183 (washington, D.C.: U.S. Department of Labor, Bi,reaii of Labor Statistics. 1075). 2 "Why Women Work," Women's Bureau (Washington, D.C.: U.S. Department of Labor, [076) (July, revised). p. 25. Beverly .Tohnson McEaddy, "Women Who Head Families: A Socioeconomic Analysis." I~1Onthl~' Labor Review. 99(6) (Tune 1076). a. 16. Donald Cymrot and Lucy D. Mallan. "Wife's Earnings as a Source of Family Income." Research and Statistics Note. No. 10 (Wasl1inrton. D.C.: Department of Health, Education and Welfare, Apr. 30, 1974). DHEW Pub. (SSA) 74-11701, pa. 10-11. H~ N. Fullerton, Jr., and 3. 3. Byrne, "Length of Working Life for Men and Women, 1070." Monthly Labor Review. 90(2) (February 1976). ~ Konp Michelotti, "Special Labor Force Report-Multiple Jobholders In May i975,'~ 3ionthl~ Labor Review, 98 (11) (November 1975). PAGENO="0165" 151 ~f employed American women cannot afford to hire regular household and child care help or to purchase sufficient convenience foods and ap- pliances to lighten the load of housework and child care. We should recognize that the ability and willingness of women to enter the labor force rest~s upon the availability of support services to meet family needs. These support services should allow women to en- ter paid eniployment without risk to their own physical and mental well-being, without risk to the physical, moral and intellectual devel- opment of their children, and without risk for those who have spouses, to the continued stability of their marriages. We should point out that the provision of the variety of support systems outlined below would also contribute to the creation of additional lobs necessary for a full employment economy. From the foregoing discussion, it is obvious that special support systems are necessary in order to make it realistically possible for women to be "able and willing to work." In addition, work available to' women should be "useful and rewarding employment." Women have suffered too long from low-paying, dead-end jobs, without fringe bene- fits or long-term security; these types of lobs have basically been an additional hardship to bear, added to women's existing burden of repetitive, never ending lobs at home. For purposes of discussion, the complex interrelations between fam- fly and work life will be separated into the following areas: empioy- ment, child care, housework, leisure, housing and community design. After our discussion of the problems, we have presented a set of princi- ples, which should be embodied in legislation for the family, and sug- gestions for a support system which would be necessary to implement those principles. II. EMPLOYMENT The complex interaction between family and work life calls for ad- iustments in the terms of employment in order to meet women's needs. IJnder conditions of the existing labor market, women have `higher rates of unemployment, lower incomes and low-skill occupational op- tions.7 Even when they are full-time labor force participants, women have disproportionately constituted "the working poor." 8 Equal pay and antidiscriminatory policies are vitally important, but they em not enough to end women's secondary status in the labor force. Ending the scarcity of work at the minimum wage level will relieve women of the effects of having to compete with so many other workers for low-wage employment, but it will not solve women's economic problems. The solutions must include (a) changing the terms of emnloymentto make these compatible with women's (and men's) family responsibilities, and (b) increasing the absolute number of jobs availableto women at the higher skills and professional levels. Currently many, if not most, occupations depend on the social and domestic infrastructure provided by women as unpaid fullLtime house-, hold workers.9 Even when women work full time, they still bear a ~ McEaddy, op. cit., pp. 6-9. `Elizabeth Koontz, "Women in the Labor Force." In 1972 report of the New'York City Commission on Human Rights, "Women's Role In Contemporary Society" (New York: Avon, 1972), p. 187. Marjorie Galenson, "Women and Work: An International Comparison" (Ithaca, `N.Y.: Cornell, 1974). PAGENO="0166" 158 `disproportionate amount of responsibility for social and domestic functions at considerable personal cost.'° Although spreading the bur- den of such costs within the family by involving men (if they are present) will relieve some of the problems of multiple job-holding for women, it will not resolve the basic issue that the terms of em- ployment for all workers have not adequately taken into account the requirements of workers' so-called "private" needs for family life and friendships. As long as women have traditionally supplied unpaid labor in the home, such requirements have remained outside the employer's accounting system. Families of full-time workers have traditionally received only the "leftover time," as the needs of fathers, mothers, and children are subordinated to the employment schedule.1' When women and men both exercise their option to seek paid work, the continuity of social and family life requires adjustment of the hours of employment, time off from work, and increased earning capacity of jobs to provide a decent livelihood.'2 An example of the kind of adjustment that might be made can be taken from Eastern European countries. Employed mothers in Poland, for instance, are likely to be with their children from 3 :30 to 4 :30 p.m. on, and in Yugoslavia from 4 p.m. on. In the Ijnitecl States. employed women usually must wait to see their children until 5 :30 or 6 p*'~'* Thus, the leisure that mothers and children might spend together is curtailed by the work responsibilities of women.'3 High- quality part-time work is an important factor in the adjustment of terms of employment. Work in America has not enhanced the ability of people to act effectively on their own behalf or to influence the events and decisions affecting their own homes and persons through social means. In the face of scarcity of and competition for jobs. women and men have seldom been "free" to find the h-pc of employment they prefer, and have thus experienced the powerlessness of economic pressures.'4 ~Tomemi have been observed to "prefer the semiskilled work at home -to unskilled work in the market, but prefer skilled work in the market to either of these alternatives." 15 Some evidence suggests they :might also prefer the semiautonomous work at home to subordination on the job, but they prefer autonomy and participation in market work to either.'6 The ability and willingness of women with family responsibilities to accept paid employment may depend on the extent to which the meaningfulness of work can be enhanced through the expanded utilization of ability and autonomy. 10 Ncna Glazer. "The Class Position of Women: ilousewifery." nap~r prisentel at the ~nnual meeting of the American Sociology Association, Sept. 1, 1976, New York City. `~ 1-layghe. op. cit., p. 19. 12 White House Conference on Children, "Report to the President" (Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office, 1970). 13 Phiflip J. Stone, "Child Care in 12 Countries," in Alexander Szalai and others (edi- tors), "The Use of Time: Daily Use of Urban and Suburban Populations in 12 Countries" (The Hague: Mouton & Co., 1972). 14 Frank F. Fiirstenberg, Jr.. "Work Experience and Family." in James OToole, editor, ~`Work and the Quality of Life" (Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press, 1974), p. 354. 11 Isabel V. Sawhill, "Perspectives on Women and Work in America," in James O'Toole, editor, "Work and the Quality of Life" (Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press, 1974), p. 93. `~ Alice S. Rossi, "A Good Woman Is Hard To Find," Transaction 2, No. 1 (November- December 1964). PAGENO="0167" 159 111. CHILD CARE The core of family life and the center of the female role has been the bearing and raising of children. As the lives of women change, new patterns of carrying out this crucial function become necessary. The immediate need is for more adequate and more varied child care arrangements for children of mothers who are already working or The number and proportion of children with working mothers con- who want to enter the labor force. tinues to rise.17 While the magnitude of the need for child care is difficult to estimate, in 1973 there were 25 million children under age 17 whose mothers were working.'8 At about the same time, only approx- imately 575,000 children were receiving full day care in child care centers.19 While other forms of care, such as that provided by neigh- bors and relatives, are satisfactory for many children, there is no way to estimate the number of children receiving inadequate care. There is also no way to calculate the anxiety borne by mothers who must work and who must leave their children in less than optimal situations. The problems of single mothers, another group which is growing rapidly in size, are particularly severe. "Over the past decade, female- headed families with children have grown almost 10 times as fast as two-parent families." 20 In the United States, 17 percent of all children under 18 live in a family where the father is absent.2' In 1973, 855~000 children under the age of 6 were in such families.22 As could be expected, mothers who head families are more likely to work than are those in husband-wife families,23 so day care is especially important to them. In 1973, there were an additional 14 million children under the age of 6 whose mothers were not in the labor force. Some proportion of these children would also need alternate child care if their mothers were to have full opportunity to prepare for labor force entry. Recent estimates of the reserve labor force provide some preliminary basis for anticipating the approximate number of homemakers who are potential workers.24 These women should be added to the calculation of the magnitude of the need for child care. More and better child care facilities are only part of the solution to the child care problems of women workers. Emergency as well as rou- tine health care is needed for the children of working mothers. The frequent illnesses of young children often necessitate a mother's ab- sence from her job. Further worktime is also lost in other child care obligations, such as attending to routine medical care and school prob- lems. Some of these needs could be met if child care centers included clinic facilities. ~ Anne M. Young, "Children of Working Mothers," Monthly Labor Review, 96, 4 (April 1973). 1S "Children of Working Mothers" (Washington, D.C.: U.S. Department of Labor, Sep- tember 1973). `~ Pamela Roby, "Child Care-Who Cares?" (New York: Basic Books, 1973). 20 Sawhlll, op. cit. "Marital Status and Living Arrangements: March 197~," Current Population Reports, Series P-20, No. 287 (Washington, D.C.: U.S. Department of Commerce, Bureau of the Census, December 1975). 22 U.S. Department of Labor, "Children of Working Mothers" (1973). ~ Young, op. cit. 24 Christopher G. Gellner, "Enlarging the Concept of the Labor Reserve", Monthly Labor Review, 98, 4 (April 1974). PAGENO="0168" 160 The time demands of raising children, however, are extremely vari- able and are not amenable to highly organized solutions. Therefore, in the long run one of the greatest contributions to the solution of the problems of these time pressures would be the equal assumption by men of the responsibilities of parenthood. Sex equality in child care would not only lighten the multiple burdens of women. but would likely contribute to the sound development of children, who often have only a passing acquaintance with their fathers. IV. hOUsEWoRK Doing housework, taking care of children, and carrying out assorted jobs for husbands are work just as much as leaving home each day for paid employment in an office or factory. To ignore this is to do a dis- service to women in the labor force. These women, their children, and eventually all Americans suffer the consequences: harried, unhappy women; ill-cared for children; and angry, puzzled men. The reality of housework is that women's work in the home averages 56 hours per week for the full-time homemaker, actually up 1 hour per week since the 1920's; 25 and 26 hours per week for the employed wife/mother. Husbands and children barely increase their contribution to house- work and child care when the wife/mother is in the labor force.26 As a result, the employed woman with family responsibilities simply gives up most of her leisure to carry out the responsibilities of family life, as well as dropping certain household tasks. Moreover, husbands' par- ticipation in child care, when it does occur, is usually concentrated in playing with children, reading and taking walks, rather than the basics of feeding, bathing, and dressing children.2T We realize that it may sound strange to hear women's activities in the home called work. Since women who do housework and child care receive no salary or wages, homemaking is not considered "work." 28 Economists have finally helped us to recognize the importance of women's work in the family by estimating the monetary value of home- making. These estimates range from $4,705 (1972) through $8,200 (1968) to over $13,000 per year (1973), depending on whether the work of the homemaker is considered equivalent to an unsirilled, skilled, or a professional worker, respectively. For example, is child care com- parable to babysitting at $0.75 per hour, to a nursery school aide at $3 per hour, or to the care of a. child psychologist at $30 per hour? Some people have proposed that the solution to the problems of the employed housewife would he simply to pa.y women for being house- wives; hence, women with heavy family responsibilities would not 25 Joann Vanek, "Time Spent in Housework," Scientific American. 23i. No. 5 (i974). 20Nona Glazer, "The Husband-Wife Relationship and the Division of Labor: The Recon- ceptualization and Extension," paper prepared for Ford Foundation/Merrill-Palmer Con- ference on the Family (Detroit, Nov. 9-12, i975). Joseph Pleck, "Men's Roles In .the Family: Another Look," paper prepared for Ford Foundation/Merrill-Palmer Conference on the Family (DetroIt, Nov. 9-12, 1975). Kathryn Walker and William Gauger, "The Dollar Value of Household Work," Cornell University Information Bulletin, No. 60 (New York: Ithaca. N.Y., 1973). Richard Berk, Sarah Berk; and Sally Berhelde, "The Nondivision of Household Labor," paper presented at the Pacific Sociological Association (San Diego, March 1976). ~ Alexander Szalai, op. cit. 2~ Oakley, "The Sociology of Housework" (New York: Pantheon, 1974), p. 9. ~ Nona Glazer, "Housework," Signs: A Journal of Women in Culture and Society, 1 (4) (summer 1976). PAGENO="0169" 161 have to enter the labor force in order to gain income for themselves and/or their families. This is not a solution for the following reasons: First, wages provide income, but they do not remedy the isolating na- ture of the work itself, nor the negative attitudes housewives them- selves have toward housework (but not toward child care) .3o Second, wages for housework would reinforce occupational stereotyping by freezing women into their traditional roles. Unless women and men are paid equally in the labor force and there is no division of labor by sex, women's work in the home will have no value. Third, since it is not clear what constitutes housework, and we know that housework standards vary greatly, it would be difficult to know how to reward it~ Several methods have been calculated, but none appear likely to be successful. The methods are variously based on (a) opportunity cost of staying at home, controlling on person's age and education; 31 (b) market cost or the income derived from an equivalent labor force job; 32 and (c) willingness of spouse to pay. Fourth, pay for house- work might place homemakers (mainly wives) in the difficult position of having their work assessed by their husbands, while in the case of single homemakers it is not clear who would do the assessing. (The idea of a Federal or other governmental regulatory agency inspecting the home to assess women's housework must be dismissed without any serious consideration at all, but income transfer payments to children of homemakers might be reasonable). Fifth, wages for housework, de- rived from spouse payments, overlook the contribution women make to the society (e.g., by training children to be good citizens), and assume that women's work in the home is only beneficial to their own families. Finally, payment for housework does not address itself to the basic reason why women with family responsibilities work: To increase family income over that which the employed husband/father makes. Also, single women with family responsibilities work because they are the family breadwinner. It may seem puzzling that the hours of women's home. activities Ii ave not declined because of the availability of many appliances (washing machines, gas and electric ranges, blenders, etc.) and convenience products (prepared soaps, frozen foods, mixes, dried foods, ~ The truth is that appliances tend, to be energy saving rather than time sav- ing and the convenience of appliances has encouraged a rise in the standards of housekeeping. Hence, women today spend more time than their grandmothers doing laundry, since family members demand more frequent changes of clothing today than in earlier genera- tions. Husbands and children expect more varied meals. Advertising encourages women to devote an inordinate amount of time and money to waxing floors, creating rooms free of "odor-causing" germs and seeking to meet other extraordinary standards of cleanliness. Further- more, the increasing concern with good nutrition, i.n the face of the exposure of dangerous additives in some commercially prepared food, 30 Oakley, op. cit. Berk, Berk, and Berheide, op. cit. ~ Reuben Gronau, "The Measurement of the Output of the Nonmarket Sector: The Evaluation of Housewives' Time," The Measurement of Economic and Social Performance (New York: National Bureau of Economic Research, i973). 32 Walker and Gauger, op. cit. ~ William D. Andrews and Deborah C. Andrews, "Technology and the Housewife in i9th Century America," Women's Studies, vol. 2, No. 3 (i974). R. S. Cowan, "Two Washes in the Morning and a Bridge Party at Night: The American Housewife Between the Wars," Women's Studies, vol. 3, No. 2 (i976). PAGENO="0170" 162 and in the face of "junk" foocL means many homemakers are now spending more time preparing foods which are not available in the marketplace, or which are only available at great costs. Housework is further complicated by the assumption made by busi- nesses, schools, stores, etc. that there is a full-time housewife in each home. This obviously is incompatible with the statistics quoted above that show one-half of all wives with employed husbands and most women who head families are in the labor force. Stores. home delivery services, repair services. schools. legal services. "after-school activities for children" aiid the like are available mainly from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. These hours are, of course, exactly the hours employed women with family responsibilities work.34 Staggering the hours of the availabil- ity of goods and services is not necessarily a solution, because of the structure of these industries. Since women dominate in the retail and service trades, the burden of working evenings or weekends ironically fails most heavily on the very group which is in the greatest need of relief. V LEISuRE The world-famous French sociologist, Professor Jofi're Dumazedier. observed: "In history the right to leisure has been defined in relation to the right to work and has been claimed by men." By "work," Dumazedier was referring to paid employment in the labor force, something which not all women have, of course, and which may be part time or intermittent for many who do. Hence, women may be de- nied vacations because they fail to meet certain criteria for receiving paid vacations, as established by their employers. It. is indeed easy to define leisure so that women are seen as having lots of it (whether they are employed in part-time or full-time work). This is done simply by defining leisure as all time iiot spent in paid employment. But we must consider leisure more realistically, and in less narrow economic terms. It is the pursuit of an act.ivlty for its own sake and for enjoyment. Leisure should also be refreshing to the person. The result of leisure is that people feel rejuvenated, invigorated and alive. Let us examine the availability of leisure-time available for the fulfillment of well-being-for the average employed wife/mother. First, the average paid workweek for the employed women in the United States is around 40 hours. Equally important. women work long hours in the home. Despite the labor saving devices, working hours of the employed American housewife have not decreasedi in the last 50 or so years because of the changes in standards audi consump- tion.36 Thus, one can conclude that women have little opportunity for leisure, a. component that should be an important facet in every mdli- vidlual's life. VI. HOUSING Most of the residlential housing in the United States has been de- signed and loca.tedi on the assumption that the woman is a. full-time homemaker who cares for the basic needs of other family members. ~ Viola Klein, "Synchronization and harmonization of working hours with the onenings and closings of social services, administrative otiices, and so forth," women Workers (Paris: OECD, 1965). Joifre Dumazedier, "Sociology of Leisure" (Amsterdam: Elsevier. 1974). p. 29. ~° Jiri Zuzanek, "Society of Leisure or the Harried Leisure Class? Leisure Trends in Industrial Society," Journal of Leisure Research, vol. 16, No. 4 (fall 1974), pp. 299-301. PAGENO="0171" 163 Supposedly, her husband also is available to help with heavier chores; make minor repairs and care for any outdoor areas. The exceptions to this set of assumptions about house care are the homes of the rich which provide living quarters for servants; special housing for par- ticiilar groups such as "singles" complexes. which include a manager; housing for the elderly or handicapped which may be designed to meet their special needs. Most of the designers and builders of housing and communities have generally failed to rethink housing and community living in recog- n~tion of the high percentages of all women who are in the labor force. I-lousing could and, should be designed so as to fulfill the changing needs of women and their families, regardless of role changes through- out life.37 As the U.S. Department of Commerce report indicates: c Millions of homes are considered substandard where it is neces- sary for a mother to cope with inadequate cooking facilities, heat, sleeping quarters, as well as inadequate space where the family caii spend time together. ~ Millions of homes are overcrowded, putting additional psycho- logical pressure on family members, and forcing children into the streets for minimal individual freedom and for enjoyment of their peers' company. G Millions of residents cannot easily find necessary services in their immediate neighborhoods; medical services, quality affordable goods, wholesome recreational facilities are unavailable. * Child care services and other activities relating to training and recreation for children are not available in the immediate~ neighborhood.~~ VII. RECOMMENDATIONS FOR LEGISLATION ON TIlE FAMILY A. Principles Legislation designed to support the family should embody the fol- lowing considerations. Such legislation should provide family mem- bers with support systems-services, facilities-which will help de- velop healthy, independent, active children, promote the fulfillment of adults, and aid employed women and men in their desire to super- vise and guide the training of the moral, intellectual, physical, and emotional development of their children. Since the primary responsi- bility for adequate family life has resided traditionally with the wife/mother, legislation must focus on the employed women with family responsibilities. 1-lowever, the programs suggested are com- patible with (a) supporting the involvement of fathers with their childlren; and (b) promoting an expanded relationship between fathers and their children. Furthermore, it is necessary to recognize that the identical services and facilities are needed, regardless of the employment status of women with family responsibilities. Children are a special concern: Legislation is needed to provide services and facilities that would support children living with their own families until the completion of high school or comparable train- ing, or a lesser age if that is preferable to the families concerned. ~` Dolores Hayden and Gwendolyn Wright, "Architecture and Urban Planning," Signs: Journal of Women in Culture and Society, vol. 1, No. 4 (summer 1976), p. 930. 2S "Marital Status and Living Arrangements." PAGENO="0172" 164 Local control by parents and children, as well as the cooperation of the providers of the services and facilities, should be a central pro- vision of the programs recommended. Methods of financing should include the extension of the principle of revenue sharing to local neighborhood bodies. Organizational structure should support client control of services, including work-based control of family-related facilities. Women head of households have a special problem, since full em- ployment may mean that burdens fall unduly on poor women who head families. As the sole adult in the family, these women may need support to participate in the labor force on a flexible basis, including support when they are out of the labor force for long periods, with- out sacrificing the benefits of full-time employment. B. Fam~i2y Support Systems In recognition of the extent of single-family household heads, the extent to which "adult children" with dependent children return to their own parental households, and in recognition of cooperative living units shared by more than one family, the family is here considered to be a more or less permanent household which has the responsibility of daily living. 1. FACILITIES FOR FAMILY FUNCTIONS a. UMid care facilities.-Federally supported child care facilities should be established to provide 24-hour care, available when needed, for children from the age of 1 year to the age of 14 or 15. There should be support for different types of such organizations. For example, older boys as well as girls might be involved in caring for younger children in some centers. This could contribute to increasing the abil- it.y of men in the coming generation to feel at ease in caring for and being close to children. Some centers might use older retired people as part of the staff or involve parents on a cooperative basis. All of these methods have been tried in previous programs~ such as Head Start. Child care experts, who have knowledge of this experience, would be used as consultants and staff, but the planning and on-going control would be in the hands of the clients/parents. The centers would be open to people of all economic levels and to nonworking as well as working mothers. Child care centers can be located either in the community or at the place of work. The size of the community, the distance of the usual trip to work, as well as the length of the working day, may have a bearing on the decision about location. For example, work-located child care centers have some advantage for parents and children if job requirements are flexible enough so that parents and children can visit during the working day. b. Neighborhood service houses: Neighbors in Cornm.vnity Heipivg Eñvi~onments (NICHE) .-Because of their working hours, employed women are often unable to carry on responsibilities of homemaking and child care easily at levels which insure ample guidance to chil- dren. This j5: especially true for women who earn low wages for they are especially unable to purchase services in the marketplace to sub- stitute fOr their labor in the home. We urge the establishment of fed- PAGENO="0173" 165 emily funded neighborhood houses, which are rooted in the ~long- established American tradition of settlement houses. The NICHE program would establish a house in the neighborhood which would provide the following services. The services would be especially in support of employed heads of families, but available to others in the neighborhood, too, in order to encourage the reactivation of the Amer- ican tradition of local barter and neighborly service and concern: 1. The supervision of play and homework activities of chil- dren under 15 years of age; 2. House visitors who would be able, on a visiting basis, to su- pervise children under 11 years, and who might be available by telephone to children between 11 and 14 years who cannot attend school because of minor illness; 3. Clinic beds for the day for children who have an illness whi~h precludes school attendance but is not so severe as to preclude travel to the clinic; 4. Transportation of children to needed medical and denta~1 services, as selected by parents, for a regular program of pre- ventive medical care; 5. 1-louse visitors who would be available to facilitate access to private homes by repair service people, delivery persons, etc..~ 6. Neighborhood meeting places where the distribution of todls and bartering of services among neighbors could take place.; 7. Distribution points for hot, prepared nutritious meals for families to take home to eat in the privacy of the family dining room; 8. Other neighborhood-based services, such as may be provided by an auxiliary Women's Center and Men's Resource Center whidh would provide support for women and men facing persona.l traumas, such as rape., battering, abuse, or job-connected race, sex, or ethnic discrimination, and other problems that now threaten the American family. c. Wom.en~s Uenters.-Federally financed women's resource centers would provide women reentering the labor force with counseling re- lated to labor force participation as it affects family life; they would also provide women with vocational counseling, including the selec- tion of appropriate programs for retraining. Since many women enter the labor force because of severe, family distress (e.g., child abuse, divorce) which requires that t.hey become breadwinners, the center would also provide psychological support of an informal nature, as well a.s referral service to an appropriate professional agency. d. Ho~idav Uamp.s and TT7eekly Leisure.-To meet the basic human needs for leisure, we recommend t.he development of federally funded holiday camps for employed mothers. This is based on the Ameri~en fondne.ss for family camping by more affluent families; the success of organized family camp retreats, as sponsored by sectarian organiza- tions; and the long established federally supported system of family holiday camps in Norway. Low cost family camping as sponsored by the YWCA, Pasadena, Calif., and the YWCA, Portland, .Oreg., could serve as models. Facilities should be available in these holiday camps for (a) the. supervision of children; (b) the purchase of low-cost, nutritionally sound meals so that women may enjoy actual relief from the year- PAGENO="0174" 166 round jobs connected with family responsibilities. To meet the basic human need for regular leisure, we further recommend the provision of low cost or free child care supervision during the work week and on weekends. Neighborhood visitors and/or persons involved in a family support system would provide supervised activities during the weekly or yearly periods in order to free parents from worry about their children. (See section on Neighborhood Service Houses.) 2. EMPLOYMENT a. Structure of Worle.-Men, women and children in the families of fulitirne workers have traditionally had to accommodate their per- sonal human needs to the routine of jobs. Terms of employment have not been adequately responsive to the requisites for a humane social and family life. We urge the adjustment of national standards to shorten the hours of the work week (which have been constant for over 50 years) while maintaining the existing standard of living; to increase the numbers of jobs at every rank in the occupational structure; to iml)rOve the earning capacity of jobs at the lower in- come levels; and to institute flexi-time in hours of work and leave time. The following provisions are intended to support additional hiring and further the goal of full employment. Changes in work hours and leave should include the following prac- tices to take into account the necessity for workers to carry on a mean- ingful home life and ensure their social well-being: 1. Mandatory overtime limits should be established. 2. F'exible work hours should be instituted to allow individuals to reach an accommodation between the demands of work and the demands of home. 3. Routine provision of "personal leave" time for both women and men should be established to meet family and personal contingencies. 4. Paternity as well as maternity leave should be instituted to insure the opportunity for both parents-father as well as the mother-to be involved in care during the first year of a child's life. 5. The status and earning capacity of part-time work should be improved to allow people to pursue a meaningful personal and family life and to allow participation by both parents in the care of children. Workers in part-time jobs would receive full- benefit medical and dental care, and other normal fringe benefits such as vacation and pension rights. Income incentives should be provided for shared jobs. Hourly wage rates for part-time work should be raised substantially to reflect the fact that part-time workers are highly productive and are often expected to work with more intensity than full-time counterparts. 6. Career level positions with job security and ens~ons should be avaUable for part-time workers. Tax advantages associated with full-time work should also be afforded to part-time work. b. Content of Worlc.-Under conditions of scarcity of paid em- ployment, women and men have seldom been free of discrimination and economic pressures in their choice of work. Single parents and PAGENO="0175" 167 poor people with family responsibilities may, understandably, be re- luctant to give up the semiskilled and autonomous work of home and family for unskilled, subordinate and inadequately paid work in the market. A Federal guarantee of the option to engage in useful work should reflect the fact that employed people require meaningful work. WTe recommend that Federal policies endorse a shift in work roles which encourage: 1. An assessment of the goal of constantly expanding the pro- duction of goods in the face of the growing awareness of the shortage of materials, and the recognition that material goods alone do not meet the human right to the pursuit of life, liberty and happiness; 2. Worker participation in planning; 3. Continual learning of new aspects of production of goods, and the delivery of goods and services by workers. This is to insure a means by which employees can represent themselves as consumers as well as producers at the workplace, and increase employee participa- tion in decisionmaking on the job. Such matters as hours, distribution of tasks, internal leadership, recruitment, and methods of production and service have been found to be adaptable to employee determination. c. Sex Equality in Ernpioyment.-We urge expansion of agencies to enforce equal pay policies and other practices which would end sex discrimination and sexual harassment. Eliminating scarcity of employment throughout the occupational structure is essential in or- der to overcome the segregation of women in low-skilled, low-paid jobs. Women require financial and family support networks if they are to be free to pursue education and training which would improve their employment opportunities; particularly important is Federal financing of education, which would provide women with support for everyday living and free child care. 3. EflUCATION (a) A Family training bill should be formulated, providing for a variety of educational measures to promote sex equality in child care and home maintenance. This could include a home training corps, in which all able-bodied youth would serve for 6 months between the ages of 15 and 19. They would have supervised particmation in ac- tivities related to the support of the family in American society; work as aides in child care centers and as assistants in neighborhood service houses, where they could serve as parent surrogates and also gain experience in household tasks. Programs could also be funded in the schools to break down the age segregation which separates older from younger children. Involvement of older children in the care and teaching of younger children would help them learn how to be parents. There should be increased efforts to alter sex role stereotypes pre- sented in the mass media with the objective, of developing an image of masculinity which includes the nurturing father. These efforts should include increased federal funding to monitor the media for sexist stereotypes, tax incentives and subsidies to encourage nonsexist program content and advertising, and funding for research on the social effects of sex role stereotyping in the media. PAGENO="0176" 168 4. HOUSING AND COMMUNITY DESIGN We recommend a housing policy, supported by Federal subsidy and encouraged by tax incentives, which would have as a primary goal the support of the family and the provision of a sound community for the strengthening of the family. Housing should maximize the basic family functions, including family shared activities. Neighborhood settings should recognize the combined employment and family re- sponsibilities of both sexes by providing facilities and services neces- sary for fulfilling work and family roles. (a) Establish a National Commission on Family-Supportive lions- lug and Community Design, instructed to assess housing, household equipment and comnmnity design as related to the participation by all family members in the daily maintenance of the household; the minimization of energy and goods for household maintenance; and the maximization of community cooperation. (b) Establish local community design groups composed of employed mothers, feminist-informed designers and architects and local build- ers to develop designs appropriate for the cultural needs of local groups, according to living patterns of ethnic, minority, and single- parent family lifestyles, among others. (c) Establish a federally subsidized program of tax incentives for the renovation of existing facilities and the building of new facilities which would meet the standards established by a National Commis- sion on Family-Supportive Housing and Community Design. Housing would be developed (renovated, and newly built) which would recognize the responsibilities of the employed wife/mother by emphasizing design to maximize the participation of all family members in housework, including meal preparation, housecleaning, laundry, as well as leisure time activities, by making spaces large enough for joint activities; to minimize upkeep by such means as finishing surfaces, traffic patterns, storage facilities, et cetera; to maximize child-parent interaction by designing spaces which include flex-equipment (for example, equipment accessible to children~ and to allow the inclusion of children in ongoing activities (for example, space for cribs in kitchens), quiet-work ancf play space for children as well as adults; flexible apartment units, as tried in Sweden. which allow the family to change room size to adapt to the life cycle changes of family members. Community organization would be developed which would recognize the responsibilities of combining employment, mothering and house- wifery by emphasizing design: to provide space for child~ care within a short and safe walking distance; to provide snace for neigh- borhooci service houses; to provide mass transportation through the enlargement of existing systems and the development of small scale buses and mini buses. 5. FOOD SERVICES Support for the working homemaker by the provision of nutri- tionally adequate and appetizing food for the family could be achieved through: 1. Increased attention by the Food and Drug Administration to the quality of food commercially available so that the homemaker will PAGENO="0177" 169 not be forced to return to old methods of growing and preparing food in order to ensure proper nutrition for the family. 2. The provision of well-prepared, low-cost meals at convenient locations for families of working women. Ready-to-eat meals could be available at child care centers and at neighborhood service houses to be picked up and taken home at the end of the working day. Ex- perience in providing such meals at child care centers in the Kaiser shipyards during World War II indicates that such services are feasible and would be utilized. 6. HOuSEHOLD SERVICES Alternative ways of providing household services for working mothers, particularly single parents, should be tried and evaluated. Some services, such as laundry, might be recommercialized. Many serv- ices could be provided at low cost through the neighborhood service houses. For example, members of a Home Training Corps could do laundry, heavy cleaning and minor repairs. The neighborhood serv- ice house could develop equipment coops which would purchase large tools, such as lawn mowers and washing machines. This would have obvious conservation advantages. The neighborhood house could also serve as a center for the exchange of services. For example, repair of a leaking faucet might be exchanged for mending. Staff of the neighborhood service house would have the responsibility of facilitat- ing the development of cooperation, wherever possible. VIII. Coxcriusiox We urge the redevelopment of the human service programs which were developed in the 1960's and dismantled in subsequent adminis- trations, for example, the expansion of Headstart programs; a recon- sideration of the Child and Family Service Act of 1974; the restora- tion of a full lunch program for school children; et cetera. Priorities in the development of family programs should be directed to low-income families and women heads of families who may, without support, experience more than their share of long-continuing social problems. However, except for the top income group of 10 to 15 per- cent of families, most Americans could benefit from all the systems. We are fully aware of the enormous cost in tax dollars of the im- plementation of even a beginning of a family support system. 1-low- ever, the human costs-to women, to men, and especially to children- of failing to take seriously the alleged American belief in the family as a sacred and basic unit in society is far greater. Without a financial commitment by the Nation to the well-being of families, we can ex- pect further marital problems and an increased unwillingness to marry and have children-trends already appearing among very young adults. We can expect increased problems among children, including drug and alcohol abuse, and further deterioration of American cities. The American family is still considered the basic unit in society, responsible ultimately for all that is good, as well as all that is had. We have continued unwillingly, however, to support the American family with little beyond pious platitudes. We are. left with a ques- tion whose answer implies our moral bankruptcy: Why are we wii1in~' to spend tax dollars to prevent large multinational corporations from going under financially, but are unwilling to spend tax dollars to pre- vent the American family from going under, morally and physically? 91-686~---77----12 PAGENO="0178" ECONOMIC ASPECTS OF CHll~D CARE B~ M~m~ H. STROBER* CONTENTS Page I. Existing formal extrafamily child-care arrangements: Cost, utilization, and (dis)satisfaction 170 A. Cost 171 B. Utilization 172 C. Level of satisfaction with existing arrangements___ 173 II. The case for subsidization of formal extrafamily child care 175 III. A community based satellite child care system - 176 IV. Financing, ownership, and control 180 V. Conclusion.... 181 The substantial and relatively steady increase in the labor force force participation of mothers in the post World 1T\Tar II period has *been one of the most far-reaching economic and social developments in recent years. In 1976, 46.1 percent of all children under the age of 18 and 37.4 percent of children under the age 6 had mothers who were working or seeking work.' Traditionally the raising of children has been the job of women, particularly mothers, but also other female relatives. However, as more and more women, inchiding mothers, have c.hosen to enter paid em- plovment outside the home, the provision of extrafamily child care services has become an important national issue. This pa.per evaluates existing formal extrafamily child care arrangements, presents the eco- nomic arguments for Government subsidization of child care, describes a community-based satellite model of child care delivery and raises several issues with respect to the financing, ownership. and control of child care systems.2 I. EXISTING FORMAL EXTRAFAMILY CHILD-CARE ARRANGEMENTS: COST, UTILIZATION, AND (DIS) SATISFACTION The discussion presented in this paper focuses on formal eXtra- family child care, that is, those child care arrangements which take place in a child care center or in a family day care home. Foster homes, nursery schools and other schools open for only part of the day or year are not part of the formal care considered here. Moreover, informal care, that is, care which takes place in the home of a child's relative, *Assistant professor of economics, Graduate School of Business. Stanford University, Palo Alto, calif. 1 iTS. Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics, Washington, D.C., unpublished data for 1976. 2 Several of the ideas presented in this paper may also be found In Myra H. Strober, "Formal Extrafamily Child Care-Some Economic Observations." in Cynthia Lloyd (edi- tor), "Sex, Discrimination and the Division of Labor" (New York: Columbia University Press, 1975), pp. 346-375. (170) PAGENO="0179" 171 or inside the child's own home by a relative, nurse or housekeeper ~s also excluded from our discussion. We shall first examine the cost of extrafamily child care, then go on to look at the demand for these arrangements and finally assess the satisfaction, or lack thereof, with the current child care system. A. Oost Extrafamily child care services are expensive. These services gen- erally operate about 2,000 to 2,500 hours per year (8 to 10 hours per day, 5 days per week, 50 weeks per year). They typically require rather high staff/child ratios and often necessitate costly support serv- ices. The full cost of formal extra family day care depends upon the staff/child ratio, the education levels (and hence the salaries) of the staff, the range of support services (that is, transportation, parent counseling), the quantity and quality of food provided, the quantity ~nd quality of plant and equipment, and whether or not the center is designed to yield a profit. The cost to parents depends upon all of these factors, as well ~as the extent to which the care is subsidized by the care-givers, community, agencies, the Government and/or the parents' own labor. Studies for the 1968-71 period on the full cost of child care for children age 3 to 6 estimated a range of $1,300 to $2,400 for the average annual cost per child for full time care (8½ hours per day, 250 days per year) .~ I recently obtained a rough indication of the current cost of high quality non-profit child care from the Child Care Mobilizer at Palo Alto Child Care (PACC). As of October 1976, in Palo Alto, Calif.. full-time, full-year center care for infants and young toddlers (9 months to 3 years) costs approximately $3,600 per year per child. This involves a staff/child ratio of 1 :4. Full-time~ full-year care in a licensed family day care home may be obtained for about $2,500 per year. Such a home generally has a 1 :5 staff/child ratio with no more than two of the children being under the age of 2. Full-time full-year center care for 3- to 6-year-olds, utilizes a 1 :6 or 1 :7 staff/child ratio `and also costs about $2,500 per year per child. Finally, the average annual cost per child for after school care plus full-time holiday and vacation care is $1,500. This type of care employs a 1 :8 staff/child ratio. Many parents purchase less expensive and presumably lower-quality care. The National Council of Jewish Women Study (also known as the Keyserling Study) found that in 1972 the average annual fee in proprietary centers was about $960 per child, in family day care homes about $860 per child.4 The California Legislative Analysts' office found that in 1974 the average annual cost of 2,500 hours of care for a 3- to 6-year-old in a nonsubsidized center or family day care home was approximately $1,300.~ See U.S. Department of Health. Education, and Welfare. Children's Bureau, and Day Care and Child Development Council of America (CB-DCCDC), `Standards and Costs for Day Care." unpublished study (Washington, D.C., 196S). as quoted in Mary P. Rowe. `Economics of Child Care." in U.S. Congress, Senate, Committee on Finance, "Child Care." hearings on S. 2003, child care provisions of HR. 1, and title VI of printed amendment 31S to H.R. 1, 92d Cong., 1st sess., Sept. 22, 23, and 24, 1971, p. 2S0; Abt Associates. Inc., "A Study in Child Care, 1970-71" (Cambridge, Mass., 1971) : and budget of National Capital Area Day Care Association. Inc. (Washington. l).C.. August lOGS), cited in Gilbert Y. Steiner. "The State of Welfare" (Washington. D.C.. 1971). Mary D. Keyserling. "Windows on Day Care" (New York: National Council of Jewish Women, 1972), pp. 3, 142. California Legislative Analyst's Office, "Publicly Subsidized Child Care Services in California" (Sacramento, August 1974), pp. 113-117, 123-125. PAGENO="0180" 172 B. Utilization Most working mothers do not utilize formal child care at all. Data for 1971 from the National Longitudinal Survey (XLS) of women 30-44 years of age are presented in table 1.6 They indicate, that about 56 percent of the preschool children of working mothers were cared for in the child's own home; 18 percent in another person's home; 9 percent in group day care; 7 l?ercent by their own mothers, 3 percent by the child him or herself and 7 percent by "other" arrange- ments. Group day care in a home or center and family day care in a nonrelative's home provided 22 percent of the total child care arrange- ments for preschool children. The percentage of working mothers utilizing formal care for their preschool children appears to have re- mained the same over the 1965-71 period. However, the. mix of formal care changed as the percentage using family day care homes dropped by about 3 percentage points, while the percentage using center care in- creased by 3 percentage points. Given the differences between the 1965 and 1971 samples, it is difficult to assess the significance of these changes.~ TABLE 1.-PERCENTAGE DISTRIBUTION OF CHILD CARE ARRANGEMENTS USED BY WORKING MOTHERS AGE 30-44 (NATIONAL LONGITUDiNAL SURVEY, 1971) Age of youngest child Child care arrangement Lesa than 6 6-13 Tota percent 100 100 Child cares for self 3 21 Care in own home...__ 56 43 By relative (including father) 32 By relative and nonrelative 16 By nonrelative 8 37 1 5 Care in another person's home 18 10 By relative 5 By nonrelative 13 6 Group day care home or center 9 Mother cares for child at work 6 Mother cares for child after school 1 Other 7 2 10 10 Source: Booed on table 4.1 in Carol L. Jusenius and Richard L. Shortlidge, Jr., "Dual Careers: A Longitudinal Studs of Labor Market Experience of Women," vol. III. (Center for Human Resource Research, Ohio State University, February 1975), p. 82. Among working mothers' children age 6 to 13, 43 percent were cared for in their own home, 21 percent cared for themselves, 18 percent were cared for by their mothers either at work or at home, 10 percent in Richard L. Slaortliclge, Jr., "Changes in ClaiM Care Arrangements of working won-ian Between 1965 and 1071," in Carol L. Jusenius and Richard L. Shortiidre. Jr.. "Dual Careers: A Longitudinal Study of Labor Market Experience of won-ion." vol. III (Center for Human Resource Research, Ohio State University, February 19751. table 4.1. p, 82. Additional analysis of the 1971 National Longitudinal Siarvey data will be forthcoming in Richard L. Shortlidge and Patricia Brito, "How working Mothers Care for Their Claildrrn: A Steady of Child Care Arrangements, Costs, and Preferences" (Center for Human Resource Resenrcla, Ohio State University). The 1985 estimates may not be directly comparable to those for 1971. The 1965 data were obtained from a questionnaire added to the Currant Population Sur"ey (CPS) for February 1965. The median age of the women in the 1965 CPS sample was 36 as compared with 40 in tlae 1971 NLS sample. In addition, the 1071 data were collected in early summer while the 1965 data were collected in midwinter. For an analysis of the 1965 survey see Seth Low and Pearl G. Spindler, "Child Care Arrangements of working Mothers in the United States" (Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office, lOGS). PAGENO="0181" 173 another person's home, and 2 percent in a group day care home or center. Only 8 percent of school-age children were in a formal extra- ±amily day care setting. This 8 percent represents a slight increase over the 1965 figure of 5.5 percent. The 1970 Westinghouse day care survey examined the child care arrangements of families with annual incomes of less than $8,000 and at least one child age 9 or under.8 This survey revealed that about 10.5 percent of lower-income working mothers used child care centers and about 19 percent used family day care homes for their preschool chil- dren, while 50 percent used care in their own homes. Compared with the mothers of preschool children in all income groups in the 1971 NLS study, a higher percentage of the mothers of preschool children in the Westinghouse sample used family day care homes and child care cen- ters, while a lower percentage used care in their own homes. Among the mothers of school-age children (6 to 14) in the Westinghouse lower income group, about 5.5 percent used formal child care. This figure was about 2.5 percentage points lower than the 1971 NLS figure for similar age children. C. Level of Satisfaction With Existing Arrangements Two questions arise with respect to the level of satisfaction with existing child care arrangements. First, are parents satisfied? Second, is society as a whole satisfied? There are several pieces of evidence concerning parent dissatisfac- tioii. First, it is clear that additional working parents wish to purchase formal child care. It is also evident that many are unable to purchase the kind of care they desire. When Westinghouse surveyed existing child care facilities, they found about 124,000 children on center wait- ing lists-an estimated 16 percent of total enrollment.9 The Westing- house survey also reported that 63 percent of working mothers desired a change in the child-care arrangements of their preschool children; of those who desired a change, 60 percent wished to move to formal day care.'° The 1~J71 NLS study probed the latent demand for child care centers somewhat more precisely, by specifying a price for such care. NLS asked working mothers if they would be willing to use a day care center if it were available to them at a cost no greater than their current arrangement. Twenty-three percent of white women in the labor force with preschool children and 3~ percent of such black women answered affirmatively. Yet only 9 percent of white working mothers and 12 percent of black working mothers were in fact using child care centers.1' Moreover, when Westinghouse asked working mothers with family incomes under $8,000 per year what they would be willing to pay for *the child care arrangements of their choice, 16 percent indicated that they could pay nothing. Of those who could pay something toward 8 westinghouse Learning Corp. and Westat Itesearch, Inc., "Day Care Survey, 1970: Sum- mary Report and Basic Analysis," prepared for Evaluation Division, Office of Economic Onportunity (Washington, D.C., 1971), pp. 175-iSO. ~ Ibid., p. 25. However, there were also 63,000 unfilled spaces available, indicating that ~`type of product," including location and price, are important to potential users. 10 Ibid.. p. 163. "See. Shortlidge, op. cit., p. 82. PAGENO="0182" 174 chulci care, $520 was the median annual fee which working mothers said they were willing to pay for the kind of child care they desired.1' Mary Rowe's study, which includes higher-income families, suggests that less than 5 percent of families would pay more than about $1,000 Ps" year per child for child care services.'~ There is also evidence of dissatisfaction with existing child care on: the part of some nonworking mothers who find the absence of "afford- able," reliable child care a significant barrier to their seeking work. However, the latent demand for child care among these mothers is. extremely difficult to estimate. When center operators were asked by lVestinghouse about the need for chulci care in their communities. 45 percent saw a need for care on the part of working mothers. and. significantly, 34 percent peiceived additional need on the part of non- working mothers.14 However, when nonworking mothers themselves are asked about the importance of child care as an impediment to their working, interpretation of their answers is difficult: some women who say they are out of the labor force for child care-related reasons may also be out because of their preference to remain at home. In the West- inghouse survey, day care problems constituted 18 percent of the reasons given for not working.15 A high percenta.ge of AFDC (Aid. to Families with Dependent Children) mothers indicated that. child care was a barrier to work. For example. a six-State study done in 1060 reported that 52 to 63 percent of nonemployed AFDC women mdi- cated that the would like to work in a steady job. provided adequate child care were available.16 A recent study by Jack Ditmore and W ii- ham Prosser estimates that the. provision of free adequate da care services would probably raise the labor force participation rate of low income women by about 10 percentage points-32 to 42 percent." The smallness of this response is dine to several factors: (1) the prel- erence of some lower income women to remain at home even when goodi,. free care is available: (2) the fact that. for many of these women inadequate child care is only one of many job-related problems: and. (3) the fact that even when child care is free, some AFDC recipients cannot earn enough to compensate for the combined loss of t.heir XFDC grant. food stamps and medlicaidi. Given the cost fi~ures diiscussed earlier it. is clear that. many families find it impossible to translate their diesire for formal child care serv- ices into effective demand for those, services. Although the majority of working mothers prefer noncenter ca.re for their pre-school children, a substantial latent demandi for center care exists. The. price at which such a demand wouldi become manifest is unclear. However, it should be pointed out that many of `those. who indicated a desire to use day care centers at a price no greater than that of their current a.rrange-~ ment were, in fact., paying a zero price for child care.. `~ Westinghouse and Westat, op. cit., p. 20G. 13 Rowe, op. cit., p. 270. 14 Westinghouse and Westat, op. cit.. p. 203. 15 Ibid., p. XVI. For this interpretation of the Westinghouse data. I am in~Thhteil tv Vivian Lewis, "Day Care: Needs, Costs, Benefits, Alternatives,' Studies in Public Welfare. Paper No. 7 : Issues in the Coordination of Public Welfare Programs. prepar~d for the use of the U.S. Congress, Subcommittee on Fiscal Policy of the Joint Economic Committee, 93d Cong., 1st sess., July 1973, pp. 102-i65. `~ Betty Burnside, "The Employment Potential of AFDC Mothers in Six States," Welfare in Review (July/August 1971), p. iS. The States included were California, Maine, Mary- land, Minnesota, New York, and Oklahoma. `~ Jack Ditmore and W. R. Prosser, "A Study of Day Care's Effect on the Labor Force Participation of Low-Income Mothers" (Washington, D.C.: Evaluation Division, Office of Planning, Research, and Evaluation, Office of Economic Opportunity, June 1973), pp. 43-44. PAGENO="0183" 175 The issue of societal satisfaction with existing arrangements is even more complicated to assess. Clearly, the intersection of supply and demand in the formal child care market leaves many families unable to satisfy their desire to purchase formal child care. Private industry is unable to increase the Su]?ply of child care center slots because, given the price which families are willing to pay for child care services, pri- vate firms cannot profitably run centers of reasonable quality, except for high income users.18 To the extent that we regard formal child care as important, necessary and/or desirable, we should be concerned about most families' inability to purchase such care. To the extent that formal child care provides significant externalities, we should be concerned with the private sectors' underproduction of these services. It is my view that there are powerful arguments in favor of partially subsidizing formal child care services, thus increasing their produc- tion and utilization and insuring their equitable distribution. II. Ti-iE CASE FOR STD3sIDIzATI0N OF FORMAL EXTRAFAMILY CI-IILD CARE There are two major arguments in favor of government subsidiza- tion of extra-family child care-the equity argument and the external- ity argument. The equity argument is that, in the interest of achieving a more equitable distribution of goods and services, there should be a redis- tribution of income toward certain groups. Subsidized child care would provide additional income or services to children of eligible mothers, to the mothers themselves and to potential employees of child care systems. If the level of subsidization were negatively related to family income, then lower income children and mothers would benefit to a. greater degree than others. The externality argument. is that where private benefits are less than social benefits, private production is likely to be too small; Govern- ment should, therefore, encourage increased output until marginal social cost is equal to marginal social benefit. There are several impor- tant external benefits associated with expenditures on child care. First, child care centers would yield external benefits by reducing parent absenteeism at work. At the l)reSeflt time, unreliable child care or unavailable sick child care is often responsible for parent ab- senteeism. Second, any educational program produces external benefits and quality child care is no exception. Society would reap considerable returns from the early detection of children's mental and physical dif- ficulties, from young children's exposure to alternative forms of in- formation and a wider scope of experiences and from a child's early opportunity to enhance his or her self-confidence and self-esteem. ~\Te should consider carefully the possible social problems and hazards to future generations of citizens if adequate child care is not provided to youngsters. 18 For a discussion of the difficulties which proprietary operators encounter, soc Joann S. Lublin, "Growing Pains," Wall Street Journal, Nov. 27. 1972; and "Where Day Care Helps To Sell Apartments," Business Week (Sept. 30. 1972), pp. 60-61; "Dilemma for Working Mothers: Not Enough Day-Care Centers,'~ U.S. News & World Report (Apr. 12, 1976), pp. 49-50. PAGENO="0184" 176 Third, two kinds of external benefits are likely to ensue when women can choose t.o make market work a permanent feature of their adult lives. Higher rates of labor force participation by women would prob- ably discourage procreation, thus increasing utility for all who find themselves already too crowded or fear excess population in the future. It is likely that women who are committed to labor force participation will develop tastes for "satisfactions" other than children. In addition, assuming that most women regard a certain amount of their own time as an essential, unsubstitutable input in the raising of children, the fewer hours `a woman has available for her children (due to market work), the less likely she probably will be to dilute her quality of in- put by `having additional children.19 Moreover, as women realize that it is feasible to combine family life with `an uninterrupted worklife, they will plan more `adequately for their jobs and careers. Work is already `a substantial part of women's lives, but `because the child rearing years frequently require an interruption of market work, women often make inadequate edu- cational investments in themselves. A visible system of high quality extra-family child care would make it possible for women to invest more realistically in their own education and training and would thus allow society to employ its human resources more effectively. If the Congress wishes to guarantee full employment, this efficient utiliza- tion of women's talents becomes particularly important. Also important in a context of full employment are several external employment and training benefits to he derived from government ex- penditures on formal extra-family child care. Since approximately SO percent of child care `budgets are for staff salaries, Federal expendi- tures on child care are, for the most part, employment creating. More- over, many of the kinds of jobs to be filled at child care centers are of a paraprofessional nature, thus making possible the training and em- ployment of precisely those groups, especially teenagers, who cur- rently have difficulty in finding meaningful jobs. The opportunity for AFDC women to obtain training and employment as paraprofessional child care workers might well `assist in the alleviation of welfare de- pendency. Finally, because the labor market for child care workers is relatively loose and rather competitive, expenditures on child care are likely to provide employment without generating inflationary wage pressures. III. A COMMUNITY BASED SATELLITE CHILD CA~u SYSTEM If we accept the need for partial Government subsidization of child care, we are then faced with several important questions: (1) What kind of system sho~~icl we design? (2) How should the system be fi- nanced? and (3) How should ownership and control be determined? An ideal system, given a particular price level, would conform as much as possible to parents' desires. Given a particular quality level, 19 it is, of course, true that subsidizing child care would lower the price (in both money and time) of raising children and that the substitution effect of this price change would be negative (that is, a fall in price would result in an increase in the purchase of child care services). In addition. unless child services were an inferior good, the income effect of the price change would also operate toward increasing the quantity purchased. But pur- chasing more child services as a result of the subsidization of child care centers does not by any means imply increasing the number of children born. PAGENO="0185" 177 such a system would operate at the lowest possible cost. Finally, given price and quality, an ideal child care system would maximize external benefits. A satellite community system would fulfill these three en- teria. Such a system is described in this section. In section IV, issues of financing, ownership, and control are examined. At the present time families who use formal day care utilize either a family day care home or a child care center, but generally not both~ On the other hand, children of nonworking mothers, especially middle class children, frequently spend part of their day in a nursery school (which is often similar to a developmental type child care center) and part of their day in their own home with other young friends and sib- lings. The latter, of course, is quite similar to a family day care envi- ronment. The child care system proposed here would closely replicate for the children of working mothers the system of care now operating for the children of nonworking mothers. Thus, I would envision a care system where children spend part of the day in a core child care center and part of the day in a satellite famil~j day care home. The core center would accommodate anywhere from 25 to 100 or so children (not, however, all at one time) and would provide the major "educational" component of the system. As portrayed in figure 1, a' network of satellite family day care homes would surround the con- ter. Run by men and/or women family day care parents, these homes would care for 4 or 5 children for part of each day. Parents would take their children to a center in the morning, but pick them up in the after- noon or evening at a family day care home, or vice versa. A community-based satellite system would provide care not only for' toddlers but also for infants and school children under age 14. Infants could be cared for solely by family day care parents until such time as they were old enough to benefit from educational and social interaction at the core center. After school care for children 6 to 14 could also be provided by family day care homes. Indeed, the system could be de- signed so that, if desired, school age children and their younger siblings could be cared for after school in the same home. It would also be possible for core centers to provide after school programs and/or for such programs to be provided at elementary schools. In discussing child care delivery, it is important not to neglect the importance of adequate after school care for the school age children of working mothers. PAGENO="0186" Family Day-Care Home 1~)1~ 178 There are several advantages to combining family day care homes with a core center. First, such a system could lower the overall cost of child care. Each child would make less intensive use of the high cost services of professionals at the core center. Moreover, if children did not stay all day at a child care center, the staff/child ratios at the center could probably be lower than those now mandated. Presumably, nursery-school type ratios (for example, 1 :10) could be used in the core center if some of the personal attention required by children came from the family day-care home; the latter facility would have a high adult child ratio (for example, 1 :4), even though not all of the chil- dren would be preschoolers. Additional savings could also be effected Firmre 1 A Cormi'unity-Based Sate1li~e ChildCare System PAGENO="0187" 179 if child care centers did not have~ to be. equipped with nap rooms, kitchens, and cooks, Children could have lunch and take naps in the family day care home. `While transportation between `the core center :and satellite home would have, some positive costs associated with it, these costs are likely to be offset by savings in personnel costs. The second advantage of a community-based satellite child care system is that such a system would upgrade the quality of family day care homes and make it possible for family day care parents to develop careers as paraprofessional (or ultimately even professional) chil'd care workers.2° By developing specific ties between core centers and family day care homes, it becomes quite feasible for family day care parents to receive training from the child care professionals at the core center. Indeed, I would envision family day care parents actually working at the core center for several hours each week. Moreover, a supervisor from the center could periodically visit the center's `satellite family day care homes, thus providing family day care parents with `assistance and evaluation. Finally, a community-based satellite system could solve the problem of sick child care. One reason why parents are frequently reluctant to rely on child care centers is because such centers seldom make arrange- ments for the care of sick children. When a child becomes ill, parents are understandably unwilling to call upon an unknown adult, whose qualifications they cannot assess, to care for their sick children. It is also obviously extremely difficult for parents to arrange for sick child care on very short notice (for example, an hour or so after the family awakens in the morning). There are several ways that a satellite sys- tem could handle sick care. First, it would be possible to desiguate certain family day care homes as sick care homes. As long as the care-givers ui these homes were given some training in caring for sick children and were familiar `to parents and children prior to a child's illness, such a solution would probably work well. A second alternative would be to provide for an infirmary at the core center. If such an infirmary required the complete isolation of sick children, it undoubtedly would be too expensive to incorporate into the system. However, if transmission of most children's illnesses occur before symptoms appear, it may be that most sick children can `be cared for in core centers without requiring precautions against contagion. A third possibility for the care of sick children would be to train a corps of sick care workers who could be sent to the homes of ill chil- ciren. Again, these sick child care workers would need to be familiar to parents and children prior to illness. Upon receipt of a phone call from a user-family, the core center could arrange for the dispatch of these sick child care workers to the ill child's home. These methods of handling sick child care are not mutually exclu- sive. A community-based satellite system might wish to employ all `three models and utilize each, depending upon the age, length and type of illness of a particular child, and the costs of the various alterna- 20 J~ would be possible to build a career ladder solely within the family day-care system, `that is. without involving child-care centers. However, since centers already employ child- care professionals, centers seem a particularly good place to begin training family day- care mothers for the next rungs of a career ladder in child care. PAGENO="0188" 180 tives.21 It should be pointed out that given the unwillingness (and in- ability) of most public school systems to care for working mother's sick school-age children, the need for sick child care is not required merely for preschoolers. Designating particular family day-care homes as sick child care homes would be a particularly useful way to care for sick school-age children. IV. FINANCING, OWNERSHIP, AND CONm0L Just as experimentation with new types of child-care delivery sys- tems should be encouraged. we also should facilitate the investigation of various methods of child-care financing, ownership and control. A better understanding of the advantages and disadvantages of various models remains to be achieved. This section briefly outlines some of the issues to be resolved. WTith respect to financing, it seems clear that most parents will have to shoulder a part of the cost of formal child care; since there are substantial benefits from child care which accrue directly to families, cost-sharing by parents appears to be warranted. There are important questions which require an answer: What proportion of the total cost of care will be subsidized? How will the subsidy vary by income level? How will the subsidy be administered? The proportion of care to be subsidized depends upon the total amount Congress wishes to allocate to child-care services and on the price elasticity of child-care demand. However, it should be recognized that in the context of a full-employment guarantee, the demand for subsidized child care is likely to be rather high. As we have seen, there is already a latent demand for subsidized child care among women now in the labor force.. As we move toward fufl employment, many women who are now discouraged workers will enter the labor force. Prerecession estimates of discouraged female workers indicated that m the first quarter of 1973. when the unemployment rate for women was about 6 percent, 400,000 women would have looked for a ~ob had they believed they, could find one.22 Many of these women will require subsidized child care if they seek work. If a full-employment guaran- tee is to be a reality for these women, Congress, when it considers the price of a full employment program, should also consider the costs for investment in new facilities and for ongoing partial child-care subsidization. It is widely accepted that child-care subsidies should vary negatively with family income level. There is less agreement. however, on whether there should be a ceiling on the number of children subsidized in any one family. lVhat does seem clear is that given the high costs `of child care and the information cited earlier on parents' willingness or ability to pay, a satisfactory subsidization scheme may well require partial subsidization of even those families with incomes above the median. At the present time, subsidization is achieved for low income fam- ilies through a system of reimbursement to care-givers, and for low and middle-income families through a tax deduction. A closer rela- tioiiship between family income and size of subsidy could be achieved 21 The costs of sick care alternatives are very difficult to estimate because of the paucity of information on frequency and duration of illness among young children. 22 ITS. Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics, "Employment and Earnings" (Wathington, D.C.: Government Printing Office, April 1973). PAGENO="0189" 181 through a voucher system. Such a system could also relate the size of the subsidy to the number of hours of mothers' employment. TJnresolved issues also exist with respect to ownership and control. Suggestions range all the way from ownership and control by parent cooperatives to ownership and control by a Federal Child Care Cor- poration. Midway between these solutions lie the possibilities of owner- ship and control by existing school boards or by new State or local government agencies. Each of these suggestions has its merits and de- merits; enabling Federal legislation should undoubtedly permit more than one approach. However, States and localities should recognize that changing back and forth among administrative systems is ex- tremely costly. A particular approach needs to he adequately re- searched, utilized and evaluated before an alternative structure is Pursued. Moreover, no matter what the particular form of ownership and control, if the Federal Government provides the funds for subsidiza- tion, it should require a system of prior approval of child-care system budgets and a network of local planning and evaluation boards. Ideally these boards would consist of parents, child-development spe- cialists, pediatricians, employer representatives with management cx- -pertise and local officials with knowledge of community resources; they could be city or county-wide organizations. The local boards would work with State agencies on matters of licensing and inspection; setting standards in conjunction with Federal regulations; assisting in locating appropriate core facilities or, if such were unavailable, in ~applying for capital grants from the Federal Government; aiding in recruiting of personnel; approving center-system budgets; working `with existing community services, including local school boards; and providing for area-wide child-care center planning. Local boards are ~1ikely to be particularly important in urban and large suburban areas. V. `Co~crtrsio~ Any legislation which deals with the guarantee of full employment `should deal with the provision of child care. First, the expenditures on child care provide jobs. Second, in the short run, without adequate child care, a full-employment guarantee is an empty promise for women. Finally, in the long run, the existence of a visible, high-quality system of child care will result in more realistic human capital invest- ments by women, thus ensuring the full utilization of women's talents. The increased labor force participation by mothers in the postwar `period has made it impossible for the care of children to continue to remain entirely within the family. The. challenge now a:t hand is to develop new methods of child care which are as economically efficient os possible, while still meeting the needs `of young children and their `families. I have `suggested that a community-based satellite child-care system might be one desirable way to organize child-care delivery. Given the likely cost savings of such a system, and its potential for upgrading the quality of family day care and providing training for parapro- fessionals, the satellite. system deserves a serious test. I have also suggested th'a;t we should experiment further with alternative `methods of financing, ownership and control of child-care systems. PAGENO="0190" PART-TIME WORK Br CAROL S. GREEXWALD* CONTENTS Page I. Implications for family and work structures 183 II. Reasons for upgrading part-time work 183 III. Costs - 184 IV. Option of pa.rt-time work 185 A. Flex-time 180 B. Child care 186 C. Sweden's system - 186 D. Concept of work day and work continuity 188 E. Benefits of part-time work 190 V. Conclusion 191 As the proportion of mothers with young children entering the paid labor force rises, society should reevaluate inherited conceptions of ap- propriate family roles and work modes. Family work structures may need to be modified so that the aspirations of women can be `aceonirno- dated at the same time that adequate nurturing is provided for chil- dren. Society has a stake in insuring economic efficiency, freedom of choice for the individual, and appropriate care for children. Since a mkjority of women with children under age 18 are now em- ployecl in the paid labor force., it is no longer appropriate, to treat men as solely responsible for the economic welfare of the family and women as responsible for all other care. Just as both fathers and mothers are working outside the home to support the family, both. parents nmst now assume the responsibility for nurturing activities in tile. home. Lega.l and structural changes in the labor market may be required to allow greater flexibility in employment patterns so that both men and women can share the responsibility a.nd pleasure of nurturing' the.jr children. Because of inflation and an increasingly higher stand- a.rcl of living, the income, of working wives is essential to tile economic maintenance of most Amcr~can families. Tile widespread `adoption of part-time work options for both parents during the child-raising years would offer an excellent means of pro- viding for the emotional and other child care needs of children, with- out sacrificing the careers of women or the efficiency needs of the econ- omy. The acceptance and use of Part-time work for men and women. coupled with the availability of public day care centers and other' forms of child care, a.re necessities if womeu are to attain tile economic equality with men envisioned ill recent social policies. *commissioner of Banks, Commonwealth of Massachusetts,'Boston, Mass. (182) PAGENO="0191" 183 I. IMPLICATIONS FOR FAMILY AND WORK STRITCTIJRES By 1971, the proportion of women workers had passed the highest leveJ attained during World War II when women participated fully in the war effort. Women's work in the 1940's was facilitated by the opening of child care centers across the Nation. One of the most out- standing child care centers was operated by the U.S. Maritime Com- mission at the Portland, Oreg., shipyards of the Kaiser Corporation. Not only did the shipyard provide an attractive and wholesome place for pre-school children to play, it also provided a cooked dinner for the tired mother to take home to her family. These accomodations to the needs of working mothers ended with the war. Since the 1950's and early 1960's, which were characterized by a lack of day care facilities and a pervasive attitude in society that women should limit themselves to being homemakers, a dramatic change has taken place in American family iif~. In tile 1950's, it was unusual for mothers to work outside the home, especially if they had young chil- dren. Today, it is not at all unusual. In 1976, almost half of the mothers of school-age children were in the labor force, as were 37.4 percent of the mothers with children under age 6.' This change is not primarily a reflection of the break up of families; it has occurred mainly among women living with their husbands. It reflects tile fact that younger women are no longer willing to limit their roles to that of wife and mother or to sacrifice their careers; it also reflects tile fact that women in midlife with older children are interested in pursuing meamng±ui careers. Approximately one-third of working mothers have tried to balance their home and work responsibilities by taking part-time paid em- ployment. This has entailed substantial career costs for many women, since practically all part-time jobs now are the lowest paying ones in an occupational category. For example, in white-collar work, part-time opportunities are primarily as low-paid office temporaries or sales clerks. Even though career sacrifices are involved, part-time employ- ment of adult women has grown almost twice as fast as full-time em- ployment of women smce 1966. Tile number of voluntary part-t~me workers in nonagriculture industries has nearly doubled, from 5.8 mil- lion in 1960 to over 11.3 million in March 1975, and consist primarily of white, married females. The majority are in sales and clerical posi- tions.2 Despite tile evident desire among women for more opportunities for part-time employment~ there is a dearth of good part-time jobs, for example, at a professional, upper-income level. II. REASONS FOR UPGRADING PART-TIME ~\`0RK Tile major demand for permanent and meaningful l?art-tlrne work, as well as for more flexible scheduling of hours in full-time jobs, has come from women's organizations. The pressure for adjustments iii the workday has even had an influence in Congress, where former Sen- ator John V. Tunney and Congresswoman Yvonne Burke introduced legislation calling for part-time career opportunities. Massachusetts 1 U.S. Denartment of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics, Washington, D.C., unpublished data for 1970. 2 "Employment and Training Report of the President" (Washington, D.C.: U.S. Depart- ment of Labor, 1977), pp. 181-185. PAGENO="0192" 184 passed legislation in 1974, based on the Tunney-Burke bill, requiring :that in each `of the next 5 years 2 percent of current full-time State po- sitions be adapted to part-time flexible hours status. Proponents of expanding the number and scope of part-time jobs ~fee1 that there are many benefits to be gained, both economic and non- economic: (a) Individuals who want to upgrade their education and skills so as to facilitate career mobility could be accommodated, simul- taneously upgrading the overall quality of the labor force. (b) Women with yoi~mg children would be able to maintain their labor market skills and knowledge and would not suffer the later difficult reentry problems which lead to high unemployment among reentering women. ~ c) lATomen who are not career-oriented would be able to work to sup- plement family income without carrying the burden of being both full- time worker and full-time homemaker. (d) Older workers and the handicapped who may be incapable of putting in a full workday could become self-supporting and self-respecting through part-time work, as they contribute to the economy. III. COSTS Employers sometimes argue that giving benefits to part-time workers increases the cost of employing part-time rather than full-time work- ers. Generally, this is not true. Hiring two half-time workers rather *than one full-time worker obviously needn't increase sick pay and `vacation pay. Similarly~ prorating life insurance and retirement bene- fits would not add to the total costs. In other words, two half-time workers would share equally the benefits that one full-time worker is entitled to. Many employers also cite social security and other payroll taxes as an argument against hiring part-timers. But the employer must pay social security taxes up to the first $16~500 earned by each worker. Un- fortunately~ most jobs that women hold don't pay close to $16,500. If each part-time worker earns $8,250 or less. social security taxes for part-time jobs are no greater than for full-time jobs, so this argument loses much of its weight. Employers also cite State taxes for unemployment insurance as another double burden. They pay these taxes a.s `a contribution to the pool used for unemployment compensation. The. tax is a. percentage of each employee's salary up to a low base. In Massachusetts. the base is ~the first $4,200 earned. So. if an employer has one employee earning ~8~400, the employer pays the tax only on the first. $4~200 of that S8.400: but, if the employer has two part-timers each earning $4.200, the em- plover pays the tax on each ~4.200 or SSAOO total. It's undeniable that double payroll taxes mean a greater expense for `firms employing part-time workers. But if the firm also tends to recuire a lot of overtime work, a reshuffling of nersonnel and woii~ schedules can actually save money. For example, if four workers earn $4 a.n hour straight time for a. 40-hour week and $6 an hour overtime for an addi- `tional S hours a week, the total annual payroll for i1~ese employees `would be ~.39.520. If. instead. the four worked only 40 hours and a fifth nerson. worked part-time for 20 hours. the. annua.l navroll would be only $37~440. In Massachuset.ts~ the. employer would have to pa.y $364 in social security and unemployment t.a.xes for the filth employee, PAGENO="0193" 185 but the additional social security tax on the four workers' overtime pay would be $365. So in this case, paying overtime cost over $2,000 more than hiring the part-timer. Health insurance is also an additional cost for the employer but again not an overwhelming one. Consider the case of the Federal Re- serve's health insurance plan, which is an exceptionally good one. The bank contributes $21.61 a month for full coverage for single persons and $47.70 a month for those under the family plan. If the bank were to designate 10 percent of its 1,500 full-time positions (two part-time workers for each position) or 300 jobs as available for half-time em- ~loyees and if 200 of the new 300 half-time workers elect to take the family plan, the additional monthly expense would be. only 23 cents an hour for these employees or 5.4 percent of their average wage. If the added expense is distributed over all the workers, it would be only 2 oents an hour per worker or one-half of 1 percent to cover half-time as well as full-time workers. For companies with less expensive health plans, the cost would be even less.3 flT. OPTION OF PART-TIME WoRK The option of working part-time involves a compromise among the needs of individuals, society, and business firms. For men, part-time work is not yet fully socially acceptable, making it difficult for men to take the responsibility of caring for children. This is due to (a) the fact that men's jobs have been higher paying and therefore men have traditionally been the main support of their fami- lies, and (b) psychological inhibitions which have been handed down over the centuries. However, the very act. of making part-time work options available to both parents-men a.nd women-can help break down the barriers to parental sharing in the care of children. Up until now, wives were always expected to and consistently did compromise their careers in order to care for children, but they are liecoming increasingly reluctant to do so. Expanding part-time job opportunities may be a realistic short-run approach to providing useful and productive work for women within the present culture. But part-time options should be structured so as to be equally avail- able to men; only then will this work option become part of evolving structural changes in both the labor market and the family. Beca.use changes in the labor market and the family are interrelated, one .change cannot occur without the other; until both these changes take place, sex role stereotyping at home and in the labor market will continue un- abated. Unless future patterns of child rearing are very different from. today's, most women are likely to remain at a disadvantage relative to men in the job market. A sex-role revolution, in which men's domestic roles and employment patterns change as much as women's roles, ap- pears to be necessary if full employment and equal work opportunities for women are to take place. See Carol S. Greenwald and Judith Liss, "Part-Time Workers Can Bring Higher Produc- tivity." Harvard Business Review (September-October 1973). See Carol S. Greenwalci, "The Way We Live Now-Part-Time Work: When Less Is More," irs. magazine, 1976. PAGENO="0194" 186 A. Flex-Time Firms have been less resistant to adopting flexible work hours. that is, they have begun extending some of the flexibility tha.t senior man- agement has always had to lower echelons of management and to workers. While flexible work hours allow greater freedom for workers to arrange their workday to meet certain of their needs, it is only of limited help to parents. True, it solves some problems of parent- hood, such as getting children to school in the morning if a parent can come to work at 9 :30 a.m., or taking children to doctor's appointments on occasion, since missed work time can be scheduled later in the week. h~~t it does not really handle the fundamental problem of creating time for parenthood. For a. parent who has worked all clay and is, therefore. as tired as an other worker in the evening, the saw about quality of time spent with children substituting for quantity is not realistic. Flexible work hours should be encouraged because it does ease. some of the problems created by rigid work schedules and because it treats workers as real people with a variety of needs impinging on their lives, but it should not be seen as an answer to the needs of working women and their children. B. Child Care Since a high percentage of both mothers and fathers are now partici- pating in the paid labor force. care of children is an important con- sideration. WThile. surrogates can and should play increasingly impor- tant roles through the increased availability of child care centers and after school programs. parents must continue to devote substantial time to being a parent, for both the child's and the narent's emotional well-being. Society's interests coincide with those of families in creat- inc facilities that. allow parents greater flexibility in their work modes. while also providing time for parental responsibilities. The organization of well-run child care centers renresents an exnen- sive but necessary solution to the logistics of child care for workin~- mothers. Cost. of course. has not stopped the establishment, of free elementary schools and should not ston the establishment of a suffi- c~e,nt number of child care centers and after school programs. IVell-run child care centers have been carried out successfully j~ a number of foi'eien countries. France is particularly notable for its care of pre- school children; free facilities are available from the age of 2 and low-cost creches are available for younger children. However, consid- erable resistance to comprehensive child care still exists in the United States, especially for very young infants. A number of alternatives for handling child care should he available so that parents can choose the one most appropriate to their needs and preferences. One alternative to child care centers for young infants would he to nermit parents to take a leave of absence or to provide part-time work oppor- tunities without penalties to their careers. C. Sweden's S?/sten?. Many of the structural changes in the occupational system recom- mended in this paper have already taken place in Sweden. Men and women who wish to take part-time work during the child-rearing years (or any other time of their lives) can do so without incurring anjt.ype PAGENO="0195" 187 of economic or occupational penalty.4 The Parent's Insurance System was introduced in January 1974 to replace a maternity allowance sys- tem. Parents now have a statutory right to 7 months paid leave and a further unpaid leave of 6 months. The paid leave can be divided between the parents as they see fit. They can take alternate months or even alternate half days, while both work part-time. The parent staying at home receives a sum per day which corresponds to the amount of sickness benefit, that is, 90 percent of income. Like the sick- ness benefit, parent's allowance counts toward a future pension, the entire parent's allowance system being part of the State social insur- ance system which is financed out of taxes and employers' contribu- tions.5 It would appear that the parent's insurance system could similarly be fitted into the disability payments system of the American social security program. The Swedish parent's insurance program has been in existence for only a short time. So far, only a, small minority of fathers have availed themselves of it. In the fourth quarter of 1974, only a little over 2 percent of all new fathers with wives in gainful employment used the opportunity. They stayed at home an average of 24.2 days of the 7-month period.5 The parent's insurance system includes another feature which gives both parents the right to stay home from work on a temporary basis if a child is sick. Both parents can take turns and receive a daily sum corresponding to sickness benefit. The child must be under 10 years of age and the number of days must not exceed 10 per family per year. This aspect of the parent's insurance is used fairly extensively by fathers. In Massachusetts, State employees may annually use 7 days of their sick leave to care for sick members of their immediate family. The present American disability insurance program under social security `could easily be expanded to include a parent's insurance sys- tem modeled after the Swedish program. Establishment of statutory right under social security for a paid parental leave of a few month's duration, equally available to both parents, would be a major step in restructuring work opportunities for women. The costs of instituting such a system need not be very large. As- suming that new parents receive for a 7-month period the average monthly benefit now paid social security recipients, the increased con- tributions necessary to fund the new benefits would be $4.2 billion, which would raise the combined employee-employer social security tax rate from 11.7 percent on the first $15,300 of income to 12.2 percent on this same income base. In addition, new part-time employment opportunities could be started in Federal agencies as a model for the private sector to follow. Legislation similar to that passed in Massachusetts could require that in each of the next 5 years 2 percent of current full-time Federal positions be adapted to part-time status. In addition, such legislation would be likely to influence State and local government agencies and the Private sector to follow suit. Availability of parental leaves and part-time work options could `also be encouraged by the `Department of Labor as part of affirmative Marianne Millgardh and Bert Rollen. "Parents' insurance," Current Sweden Series, No. 76' (Stockholm Swedish Institute, April 1975). Ibid. PAGENO="0196" 188 action programs for Federal contractors. Discrimination is defined in terms of the consequences of an employer's action; that is, the ef- fects, and not the mtent, of the actions. If any action that. an em- ployer takes has an adverse effect on the employment opportunities of any of the groups that are protected by title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (women are one of the protected groups), the employer must 1ustify the necessity of continuing this discriminatory course of action. The employer must be able to prove that the discriminatory action is a matter of business necessity, that it is truly necessary to the safe and efficient operation of the business. When examined, many personnel policies turn out to be nothing more than convenient well- established ways of doing business, not particularly crucial, but irn- questioned. Current maternity leave practices of firms~ which severely limit leave and limit them to women, and the unavailability of part- time work options for men and women during child-rearing years. clearly have a discriminatory impact on women's employment. It would appear that a firm should be required to explore these options if it is to be in compliance with the law. D. Concept of Work Day and Work Continuity These changes in Sweden represent only a beginning in the struc- tural changes needed within the labor market.. The total concept of the workday and work continuity would benefit from a. fresh ap- proach. Is it really necessary and desirable that people have uninter- rupted work records if they are to he considered serious, reliable and committed? The increasing desire of high status men for an im- proved "quality of life" that includes adequate leisure time may help facilitate profound structural changes in the world of work. Firms have resisted part-time employment for a variety of philo- aophical and administrative reasons. Philosophically, they have viewed part-time work as not legitimate, legitimacy being defined as what men do. One can't he serious about a. job if one wants to work part time. Full time is defined as the amount of time men ordinarily work. However, what is considered full time is not an immutable fact of nature; there have been more, changes during this century in the "full-time workweek" than there had been in the previous thousand years. In recent yea.rs~ the hours of the day the days of the week, days and weeks of the year, years of a working lifetime have all been considerably shortened. Even after World War L the steel industry still had a 12-hour, 7-day workweek. With the office workweek at 35 hours, full-time work is closer to part time than it is to the standard 60 hour week before World ~\Tar I. The concept of full-time has remained constant only in that it is the standard amount of time men work. Prof. Paul Sarnuelson has pointed out that in contrast to our "freedom in the spending of the money we earn, `the modern industrial regime denies us `a similar freedom in choosing the work routine by which we earn those dollars." ~ Firms avoid part-time workers because it complicates aclministra- t.ion. Top management people like to have access to en~ioyees when ~t.hey need them. If executives are there, they want employees there. Paul Samuelson. foreword in "4 Days, 40 Hours," Riva Poor, editor (Cambridge, Mass.: :Bursk & Poor Publishing Co., 1970), p. 8. PAGENO="0197" 189 This annoyance factor is important. It may be lessened if not elimi- nated when working part time is no longer a deviant pattern. Being a part-time administrator also conflicts with common notions about what supervisors and employees do on the job. The common picture is that the supervisor oversees the workers who would not work if the supervisor were not there. There is an out-dated notion here that if workers are not watched, they will not produce anything. There is. also the notion that employees are incapable of taking any responsibil- ity for their work. The assumption is that supervisors must be there to solve any unexpected problem at the very moment that it occurs~ Part-time workers also complicate routine administrative problems,. such as computing the payroll and establishing the fringe benefit. package. It is important to examine the real essential requirements of manage- ment, supervision, and professional work. Is input a necessary meas- ure of output? Does its importance vary for different kinds of pro- fessional work? Do the supervision requirements of a research direc- tor and of a comptroller differ? A common objection th part-time employees is that they are less committeed, less productive, and inefficient workers. Almost by defi- nition they must be inefficient because they lack the all-consuming dedication to their job that is almost a requirement of success in the corporation. Research-based data indicate that permanent part-time employees are more efficient, more productive, less frequently absent,. and have a lower turnover rate than comparable full-time employees? Career-oriented employees who work less than full time should not be confused with office temporaries who have no long-term commitment to particular jobs. A number of examples can be cited: ~ The Smithsonian Institution has successfully used two part-time lawyers. The Federal Reserve Bank of Boston has paired a part-time department head and an economist,. and has had a part-time assistant statistician. The Massachusetts De- partment of Banks has a part-time director of research, a part-time supervisor of examinations for equal credit compliance, and a staff of part-time researchers and individuals handling consumer complaints.. By offering part-time opportunities the Massachusetts Banking De- partment has been able to attract people with high qualifications which exactly match the needs of the Department, despite the low salary levels in state employment. In areas like consumer complaint handling~ the Massachusetts Department of Banks has found that part-time employees, because of the shorter hours, are able to maintain a greater sensitivity in handling consumer complaints than are full-time em- ployees. Five public school systems which employ 500 job-sharing teachers have called the experience a success. Flex-time also has been found to improve a work situation, rather than hinder it. The Massachusetts Department of Banks and the Massachusetts Rehabilitation Comn'iission have both found it to be an important morale booster. Lufthansa employees in Germany have, been found "to interact more effectively, assume greater initiative and Marjorie M. Silverberr and Lorraine D. Eyde, "Career Part-Time Employment: Person- nel Implications of the New Professional and Executive Corps," Good Government (fall 1971). 8 Robert I. Lazer. "Job Sharing as a Pattern for Permanent Part-Time Work," the Con- ference Board Record (October 1975), pp. 57-61. PAGENO="0198" 190 responsibility, and be more aware of, and hence become more con- siderate of coworkers' time." The Massachusetts `State Department of Welfare in 1969 lured 50 caseworkers on a half-time schedule. An independent study made 6 months later by a consulting firm indicated that these social workers had 89 percent as many face-to-face contacts with clients as full-tune workers, thus once again providing Parkinson's law that work expands to fill the time given to do it. Moreover, the turnover rate among the Part-timers was only one-third of that of their full-time colleagues. Since their employer was paying them half a regular full-time salary, the State benefited. So much for the oft-repeated statement that part-time. help is ex- pensive, inefficient help. It may be in some cases, but it certainly is not always. It is important to determine when it. is and when it is not. E. Benefits o~ Part-Time TVork' There are many sound reasons why a company might benefit from hiring more part-time workers. First, a great many talented. well-educated wives with child-rearing responsibilities will `be attracted to part-time work. Offering part-time work thus gives the firm a personnel-management lever to use against competitors, especially larger ones, in attracting high-quality workers. Second, the firm that broadens part-time job opportunities will prob- ably experience greater productivity and lower unit `costs. due to reduced absenteeism, turnover, recruitment activity. and overtime pay. The practical and psychological advantages of part-time work for employed mothers will he mainly responsible for the drop in all but one of these areas; the drop in overtime pay obviously results from not having to pay increased rates when part-time workers put in more than their usual hours. Productivity will also rise because one can keel) up a much faster work pace for 4 hours a. day than one can for 8 hours. The First National Bank of Baltimore found that productivity rose under flexible hours, as did the Mine Safety Appliance Co. of Pittsburgh.~ The institutionalization of part-time work for men and women while their children are young would constitute an important step toward the equalization of parental responsibility and the upgrading of part- time work. To do this. several conditions must be satisfied. Part-time a~id full-time workers must receive the same fringe benefits.'° Part- time work for child-rearing purposes might be treated similarly to sabbaticals, that is, part-time work -years would receive the same credit- ing toward seniority, promotion. tenure. and salary adjustments as full- time work. Concerted efforts would need to be made to establish part- time work options in at least some prestigious occupations. Finally, men should be encouraged to work part time for some period of their work lives. The right to part-time work might be extended to 15 years per person a.s in Sweden. or 9 years as in France. Part-time work op- tionS will not eliminate the iieed for a system of child care centers, but it can be expected to reduce the need for them, and will enable parents and children to satisfy important emotional needs. `Problems Cut by Flexitime." the Washington Post (May 22. i77). Dfi. 10 See Carol S. Greenwald and Judith Liss. op. cit., for a discussion of the costs of pro- viding equal fringe benefits to part-time workers. PAGENO="0199" 191 V. CoNcLusIoN Achieving equality for women workers requires adapting adminis- tration to the rhythm of family life. Women are starting to insist on the right of women and men to be complicated, to work full time at certain periods in their lives and to work part time at others. Women are starting to request that the bureaucracy set as its goal not the reduction of complications, but the mastering of them. Businesses are making job structures and the work week more flexible with such innovations as the 4-day week and flexible hours. Restructur- ing jobs to accommodate more part-time employees would be another step forward. Women want to pursue careers, but their lives and inter- ests, like those of men, extend beyond the marketplace. Working part time during some periods of the life cycle is now a need of many women. It should, of course, be an option for every person, as joint nurturing of children becomes a widespread reality, and as increasing incomes make greater leisure possible. The women's movement is doing both women and men a great service of humanizing work by helping to establish the concept that working part time during part of the life- cycle is legitimate. PAGENO="0200" PAGENO="0201" Part IV. EDUCATION AND EMPLOYMENT (103) PAGENO="0202" PAGENO="0203" FACILITATING FULL EMPLOYMENT OF WOMEN THROUGH CAREER EDUCATION B~ ANITA M. MITOHELL~ CONTENTS Page I. Career and occupational development across the Nation - 19G II. Purpose of this paper 197 Ill. Career education for self-assessment and self-development 198 IV. Career education for occupational awareness and job preparation_~ - 199 A. Job preparation 199 B. Training and employment 200 C. Special populations 200 V. Career education for planning and decisionmaking 200 VI. Recommendations 201 Career education is an emerging concept which can better enable women and men to achieve suitable direction and focus of their lives. By facilitating the realization of individuals' employment po- tential, career education simultaneously maximizes the Nation's pro- ductivity. It helps people recognize and develop their skills and talents and match them to employment and other opportunities. Career educated women will tend to look with a healthy skepticism at the traditional roles to which they have been confined. In the absence of career education, decisions tend to be made in a hit-or- miss manner within a limited range of choices. A. chance job offer may divert a young person into an unsatisfying life path. Role models such as a relative who is a lawyers a TV heroine portraying a police- woman, or a friend working in a factory may influence a person to make a capricious, rather than a thoughtful career choice. The result may be a lifetime loss in potential earnings and satisfaction for the individual, with a parallel loss to the Nation. To prevent such haphazard life decisions, career education builds on the present education system, broadens and enhances the roles of existing schools and faculties, and extends the period and scope of learning. Putting the concept of career education for women into focus requires definition of the terms "career" and "career education." Each education/training experience and each occupation/job (paid or unpaid) a person pursues is a point on the continum of his/her career. Everyone has a career, whether She/he works for a wage, is a homemaker, or is a volunteer; whether she/he is a student, a worker, or an anmiit.ant. The purpose of career education is to assist each individual in the formulation of a series of education and work decisions and in the pursuit of a series of education and work goals that will enhance her/his options, support the life style to which she/he aspires, and contribute to society's purposes. *Se1~ior Research Scientist, American Institutes for Research in the Behavioral Sciences, Palo Alto, Calif. (195) PAGENO="0204" 196 The term "career education" is known to many, but the concepts it covers are known to few. Analysis of the contexts in which the term appears reveals that it frequently is used as a synonym for "vocational education ;" however, vocational education covers only about one-third of the curriculum of career education. Career educa- ~tion goes beyond vocational education to help the individual develop ~!knowledge of self and of ways to enhance self as a worker, and to develop skill in planning and decisionmaking processes. Vocational education alone, out of context of the other two concepts, falls short. One study' showed that vocational graduates had no better income, )ob status, turnover rate, upward mobility, unemployment rates or job satisfaction in their initial employment than students with aca- demic programs. In the long run, their initial employment record `was worse. Career education curriculum prepares individuals to be :ready for discontinuity-for change both expected and unexpected- instead of limiting their training to the narrow skills frequently taught in vocational programs. Career eduation embraces three components: (1) self-assessment and self-development (intellectual, physical and emotional/social; (2) occupational awareness and job preparation (vocational education); and (3) planning and decisionmaking skills. Each component covers a multiplicity of discreet knowledges and skills. Career education is not the content -for a course or a unit at one or several points in a per- son's formal education experience; it is not a structured curriculum that is uniformly delivered to all. Rather, it is a component that is incorporated into any and all subjects and other aspects of education and becomes an integral part of learning in order to relate that learn- ing to the individual's career. Career education. then, is an organizing lactor for all of education, from preschool through college and con- tinuing education. The career educator helps each individual identify career develop- ment needs at each point of his/her career-kindergarten through re- tirement-and personalizes education by relating current learning to the key roles the individual will play. Career education permeates the fabric of the educational system through curriculum, instruction, and ~counseling. It brings personal meaning to all learning experiences. I CAREER AND OCCUPATIONAL DEVELOPMENT ACROsS THE NA~roN An analysis of the results of the Career and Occupational Develop- ment Tests of the National Assessment of Educational Progress at- tests to the need for career education for women. A national sample of males and females at ages 9, 13, 17 and adult were given a series of tests based on five objectives: (1) prepare for making career decisions; (2) improve career and occupational capabilities; (3) possess skills that are generally useful in the world of work; (4) practice effective work habits, and (5) have positive attitudes toward work. Sex differences were seen in the responses on some items in each of the five objectives areas. For instance, responses of 17-year-olds showed that males did better in identifying characteristics of male-oriented jobs. Males perceived group sports, individual sports and hobbies and 1 Reubens, Beatrice, "Work in America," quoted in "German Apprenticeship: Contro* versy and Reform," Manpower (Washington, D.C., November 1973). PAGENO="0205" 197 crafts as activities most useful for a job, whereas females named musi- cal or artistic activities, school and academic areas, and household skills. Asked for reasons why a worker might accept a promotion, females suggested challenge, responsibility, and personal satisfaction; whereas males more often named working conditions and benefits. In the basic skills areas, females did better in language arts and males did better in math. In general, the data showed serious gaps, as well as inequities, in the career and occupational development of the youth of the Nation, with particular evidence of the impact of the sex stereotyping which pervades our culture and reduces women's work options.2 A parallel study of mature educated women and men found that men followed a relatively simple and straightforward pattern compared with the much more complex career and life patterns characteristic of women.3 A multitude of conditions have contributed to an escala- tion of the need for career education for women: changes in career and life patterns; changes in attitudes toward, needs for, and laws con- cerning women in the work force; and many other social, economic and political factors. II. PURPOSE OF THIS PAPER It is not the purpose of this paper to define the total content of career education. Content is limited to career education program elements which focus directly on those factors that facilitate the full employment of women at levels commensurate with their abilities, interests and aspirations. Procedures for selecting program. elements. to be included in this paper were: 1. Problems that inhibit full employment of women were identified by an analysis of documented evidence as reported by government and individuals.4 2. Compendiums and other publications were searched for existing career education programs and program elements which have been 2 Mitchell, Anita M., "Career Development Needs of 17-Year-Olds" (Washington, D.C. NVGA, 1977). Ginzberg, B., et al, "Life Styles of Educated Women" (New York, Columbia University 1966). Rubinstein, Ellis, "Profiles in Persistence," IEEE Spectrum, November 1973. Broverman, Broverman, Clarkson, Rosenkranz, and Bogel, "Sex Role Stereotypes and Clinical Judgments of Mental Health," Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 34 (1), .1970. Thomas; H., and N. R. Stewart, "Counselor Response to Female Clients With Deviate and Conforming Career Goals," Journal of Counseling Psychology, 18, 1971. Hawley, Peggy, "The State of the Art of Counseling High School Girls" (Ford Founda- tion, 1975). Hawley, Peggy, "Perceptions of Male Models of Femininity Related to Career Choice." Journal of Counseling Psychology, 19 (4), 1972. U.S. Department of Labor, Monthly Review (Washington. D.C., U.S. Government Printing Office, June 1971). Employment Training Administration, "Women and Work" (Washington, D.C. U.S. Department of Labor, April 1976). Sheehy, Gail, "Passages: Predictable Crises of Adult Life" (New York, E~ P. Dutton &. Co.. Inc., 1976). Editorial, "The Tug of War for Equality," Women in Business, May 1975. Chisholm, Shirley, "Sexism and Racism: One Battle To Fight," Personnel and Guidance Journal, vol. 51, No. 2, October 1972. Women's Bureau, "Facts on Women Workers of Minority Races" (Washington, D.C., U.S. Department of Labor, U.S. Government Printing Office, 1975). . PAGENO="0206" 198 found to produce outconies aimed at reducing the specific inhibitng factors identified in the analysis of problems.5 3. These identified program elements were orgamzed around the three components of career education to show how career education could contribute to the realization of full employment of women. The program elements are not arranged by educational level, as most of the concepts, such as self-assessment, may be intrOduced at any age level and refined as the individual matures; others are specific to mature women, either entering the work force for the first time, or reentering after an absence. Therefore, emphasis is not on the setting, but on the content. It is understood that different delivery systems would be appropriate for different levels of career development. This author does not claim that any one current career education program embraces all the career development outcomes presented. However, the fact that each program element presented has been de- veloped, implemented and validated in at least one setting, supports the possibility that a total career education emphasis could contribute substantially to the full employment of women. It would be space consuming and inappropriate to identify specific materials and pro- cedures of program elements here; other compendiums, including those footnoted on the previous pages, have performed this. task. III. CAREER EDUCATION FOR SELF-ASSESSMENT AND SELF-DEVELOPMENT Among major inhibitors to full employment of women at levels corn- rnen~urate with their abilities and interests are: women's concepts of themselves as workers; their failure to develop personal traits and worker traits that help them compete with men for existing jobs; and stereotypical role expectations in the community. The first component of career education, one that serve~ as a base and a buttress for occupational skills development, includes the fol- lowing program elements which could be expected to reduce the in- hibitors to full employment named in the previous paragraph: 1. Exploration of strengths and weaknesses, successes and failures, to help girls and women (a) clarify their values, attitudes and self- perceptions, (b) sort out their own personal resources including abil- ities, interests and personal characteristics; (c) mobilize strengths and cope with areas in which they are weak; (d) evaluate their work ex- periences; and (e) develop occupational self-understanding and self- esteem. McLaurhlin. Donald H., "Career Education in the Public Schools. 1974-7~-A National Survey" (Palo Alto, Calif., American Institutes for Research. 1976). Mitchell. Anita M., "The Use of Print and Nonprint Media in Cnreer/Occuuafional Edu- cation" (Palo Alto, Calif., the ERIC Clearinghouse on Information Resources. 1976). Arterbury. Elvis, John Collie. Dave Jones, and Jayne Morrell, "The Efficacy of Career Education. Washinrton. D.C., NACCE. 1976. Peat, Marwick, Mitchell & Co., "Instructional Materials for Career Education" (Wash- ington. D.C.. USOE. 1974). Ellis, Stephen H.. and others, "A Study of Career Centers in the State of California" (La Mesa. Calif.. 1975). Hoyt. Kenneth. "Career Education: How To Do It" (Washington, D.C. Office of Career Education (DHEW/OE), 1974). fTovt. Kenneth. "Career Education: The State of the Scene" (Washin~ton D.C. Office of Career Education (DHEW/OE), 1974). Smith. Keith E.. "A Summary of Commissioned Papers Prepared for the National Ad- visory Council for Career Education" (Washington, D.C.. NACCE, 1976). Herr, Edwin L.. "The Emerging History of Career Education: A Summary view" (W'ish- ington. D.C., NACCE. 1976). Begel. Elsie P., James A. Dunn, Robert M. Kaplan, John Kroll, Judith M. Melnotte and Lauri Steel. "Career Education: An Annotated Bibliography for Teachers and Curriculur~ Developers (Palo Alto, Calif., American Institutes for Research, 1973). PAGENO="0207" 199 2. Development of intrapersonal and interpersonal skills, basic in- ~trumental skills, how-to-learn skills, and skills in self-presentation that will open career options. 3. Development of (a) women's awareness of the subtle but perva- thve societal forces that continue to constrain women's opportunities and roles in the labor market, and (b) resources, avenues and tech- niques for combating these forces. (Example: Analysis of the biased language and pictorial presentations in the catalogs of education/ training institutions, in classified help wanted ads, and in many na- tionally distributed occupational briefs; identification of laws and agencies which exist to facilitate equal training/placement access to women.) 4. Development of the concept of education and training as invest- ment in human capital (an investment in themselves, against which they can draw at any point in their lives), and of continuing educa- tion as a way to slow down the rate of deterioration, depreciation, and obsolescence of themselves as human capital. 5. Institutional screening of educational materials and encourage- ment of production of nonsexist materials to counteract the many myths about women workers, the stereotypical roles portrayed in textbooks and the mass media, and the biased selective information presented by interests vested in specific occupations/professions. IY. CAREER EDUCATION FOR OCCUPATIONAL AWARENESS AND JOB PREPARATION The second component of career education is aimed at increasing women's occupational awareness and improving their job preparation, as deficiencies in either or both of these areas affect women's employ- ment. Career education program elements for this component are orga- nized into three sections: Job Preparation, Training and Employment, and Special Populations. A. Job Preparation 1. Provision of experiences and role models at all levels to increase girls' and women's perceptions of their educational, training, and oc- cupationa~l options. (Example: Classroom visits by successful career women-including parents of students-such as scientists, machine tool operators, or pilots.) 2. Development of generic skills that will be transferable when work roles change. 3. Application of basic language and computation skills to the work setting. (Example: Specific vocabulary used in a health setting such as a doctor's or dentist's office; arithmetic used in a real estate or in- surance office.) 4. Establishment of personal relevance in all curricular areas. 5. Development of skills for (a) maintaining awareness of present and future occupational trends, opportunities and requirements, and (h) identification of advanced occupations/professions for which they can train either at, once or intermittently,, using the career ladder concept. PAGENO="0208" 200 6. Development of job choosing, job seeking, job getting, and job maintenance skills. 7. Development of specific occupational sinus. B. Training and Employment 1.. Development of realistic views of the "shelf life" of training, and awareness of the need for continuing and recurrent education. (Example: The rapid obsolescence of computer technology.) 2. Development of skills for locating resources and for testing and using these resources to find economical ways to train and retram. 3. Awareness of women's rights under title IX of the Educational Amendments of 1972, to counteract discriminatory practices still em- ployed by some training institutions.6 4. Understanding of (a) the meaning of other antidiscrimination laws, (b) the fact that their implementation is spotty, (C) enforce- ment procedures, and (d) implications for women as workers. 5. Awareness of sources of help in problem areas such as financial support, child care, and occupational evaluation. 6. Institutional support and flexibility for women of all ages to receive technical and other occupation-related training. U. Special Popuiatian.s 1. Development of the specific skills necessary for special populations to gain access to education, training and 1ob opportunities. (Example: upgrading the communication skills of the cerebral palsied, the deaf and the retarded.) 2. Institutional provision of appropriate content, facilities and equipment in career education for women from isolated rural areas and from low socio-economic families, older women. and those with physical, intellectual, developmental or emotional handicaps. 3. Institutional provision of linkages between education/training and successful job placement. V CAREER EImOATI0N FOR PLANNING AND DECIsI0X3IAKING Women's failure to plan for a succession of work roles and to set short-term and long-term goals frequently results in their being un- ready for job mobility, job advancement, job entry or re-entry. Con- `fusion surrounding the conflict between individual goals and societal goals, and deficiencies in decisionmaking skills may cause women to choose inappropriate education/training institutions or job options. Career education program elements within this component that show promise for removing these inhibitors to full employment of women include the following: 1. Development of planning skills through application to current educational and occupational goals. 2. Development of skills in goal setting, testing. and followthrough. 3. Development .of skills in adjusting short-term and long-term goals and in knowing when such adjustments are desirable. l~iernice Sandier, "Admissions in Higher Education and the Law." address delivered at college Entrance Examination Board Conference, San Francisco, Calif., January 1975. PAGENO="0209" 201 4. Development of realistic time plans for accomplishing goals, and of productive implementation of these plans. 5. Identification of training and occupational alternatives, and of the relationship of each to short-term and long-term goals and desired life style. 6. Contingency planning for job change, job advancement and job re-entry. 7. Development of skills in seeking and assessing the accuracy and reliability of sources of information; of examining values; of clarify- ing career objectives; of examining options and seeking alternate routes to reaching objectives; of considering consequences of alternate choices; and of using this total process in making career decisions. 8. Development of skills in reconciling conflicts between individual goals and societal goals when confronted with negative statements in the media such as the following: President Carter's most immediate economic plans could be upset badly by one of the most profound social changes in American history-the continued, dra- matic rush of women away from the role of housewife and into the labor market.' Bernstein continues by stating that factors such as newly created jobs that entice "additional millions of women" out of their homes * * * wOuld leave the Nation's unemployment rate at an intolerably high level and effectively thwart Carter's plan. The previous three sections listed some of the knowledges and skills that have been developed through implementation of specific career education program elements. Women's development of these knowi- edges and skills could be expected to reduce specific barriers to their full employment. Institutional actions which have been initiated as part of the career education movement and which could contribute to women's full employment are also reported. With increased flexibility in terms of age, program, setting aud schedule, these program elements could be delivered to girls and wo- men of all ages and at all stages of career development. As suggested above, career education is most effective when it becomes part of the regular curriculum, instruction and counseling programs, relating learning to current, emerging, and projected career roles. VI. RECOMMENDATIONS Since the content and process of career education have been defined. and since career education could help remove many of the barriers to full employment of women, it is recommended: 1. That career education be made mandatory in all the schools of the Nation-kindergarten through higher education-and be encour- aged in other community settings. H.R. 7-Elementary and Second- ary Career Education Act-was recently passed by the House of Rep- resentatives. A companion bill awaits action in the Senate. 2. That capital market investment, which encourages the develop- ment of talent in women, e.g., tax and credit reform, provide long-term private and public loans not only for initial training, but for retrain- ing or upgrading skills at any time during women's working lives. 197 Bernstein, "Women at Work: U.S. Jobs Upheaval," Los Angeles Times, Feb. 6, 91-686---77----14 PAGENO="0210" 202 3. That day care services be made available for all women trainees and workers needing this service. 4. That Community Career Education Action Councils be estab- ii~hecl in each community, with representatives from local govermuent agencies, labor unions, business and industry, schools, and other local groups to plan and evaluate the community's career education efforts. 5. That incentives and disincentives be used to promote nondiscrimi- nation in advertising and to encourage portrayal of women in other than stereotypical social and occupational roles. 6. That licensing/accrediting agencies such as trade unions, higher education institutions and government agencies establish policies which give women credit for competencies developed outside of school, and increased opportunities for training in early or midcareer. 7. That institutions training career educators incorporate career ~education concepts, skills, and methodologies in their programs. 8. That schools become open-entry, open-exit systems. available to ~women of all ages, and offering program and schedule flexibility. PAGENO="0211" VOCATIONAL EDUCATION B~ PAMELA ANN ROBY* ** CONTENTS Page I. Women in vocational education 203 II. Vocational education research and women 206 III. Proposals for researëh and development 209 A. Admission 210 B. Enrollment 213 C. Instruction - 214 D. Counseling 217 IV. Conclusion 221 Appendix 221 In the United States, lack of training or education has been over- emphasized as a cause of unemployment and poverty.' The extremely low unemployment rates of World War II testify to the fact that many of those who are considered "unemployable" due to lack of training and other factors in times of low labor force demand are in- deed employable when the labor force demand is high enough. Never- theless, individuals' rights to training for work in which they are in- terested should not be overlooked. In an ideal future, when jobs are no longer sharply differentiated by prestige and pay, trainiiig will allow individuals to have vai~iety in their work by enabling them to move from job to 1ob Tod'uv ti'uning iepiesents `t step tow `trd `t more intei esting, prestigious or better-paying~ job. It is within this context that w e will considei vocational educ ition for ~~onien `mci the full employ ment economy. I. WOMEN tN VOCATIONAL EDUCATION WThile school and college enrollments have been leveling off, voca- tional education has been booming. State vocational and technical education enrollments incie'tsed from ioughly 7 5 to 11 6 million from *Assoeiate. professor of sociology, director of the Extended University, and chairperson of Community Studies at the University of California, Santa Crux. * ~This article is. a revised version of "Toward Full Equality: More Job Education for women," School Review, Vol. 84, No. 2, nnd is reprinted with the permission of the author and publisher. The author received financial assistance from the Russell Sage Founda- tion and the University of California, Santa Cruz Academic Senate, which enabled her to conduct the research. `Compare S. M. Miller and Pamela, Roby, "The Future of Inequality" (New York: Basic Books, 1.970), ch. 6; and Howard M. Wachtel. "Looking at Poverty From Radical, Conserva- tive, and Liberal Perspectives." in Pamela Roby ed. "The Poverty Establishment" (Engle- wood Cliffs, N.J. : Prentice-Hall, 1974.) Compare "Learning a Living Across the Nation," vol. IV, pt. 1. narrative report by Arthur M. Lee; pt. 2. statistical almanac by Arthur M. Lee and Dorris Fitzgerald, Flagstaff, Ariz. Project Baseline, fourth national report prepared for the National Advisory Council on Vocational Education under U.S. Office of Education Contract OEC 0-72---04i4, (October and December 1975). (203) PAGENO="0212" 204 1968 to 1972.2 Even exceeding the growth in enrollment, funding for vocational education has increased massively. In 1962 vocational edu- cation received $262 million in Federal and $930 million in State and local funding; in 1972, the figures were $464 million and $2.2 billion, respectively.3 In addition, the Higher Education Act of 1972 author- ized $950 million over the next 3 years for post-secondary occupational (i.e., vocational) education. This sum was over three times that au- thorized for the establishment of new community colleges and the expansion of old ones-$275 million.4 Despite this very considerable growth, it appears that the needs of women for vocational education have not yet been given serious at- tention.5 Given Congress's definition of vocational education as "vo- cational or technical training or retraining . . . given in schools or classes.. . designed to prepare individuals for gainful employment as semi-skilled or skilled workers, tecimicians [or] . . . subprofessionals in recognized . . . and in new and emerging occupations or . . . for enrollment in advanced technical education programs . . ." there is considerable evidence that opportunities for women in vocational ed- ucation are severely limited.5 A 1974 report of the Women in Appren- ticeship Project of the U.S. Department of Labor observed that 98.5 percent of the enrollees in Wisconsin high school industrial classes were male. The girls are given home economics or, if they are not on the college track, business subjects. In most schools giils are either overtly forbidden or subtly discouraged from seriously experiment- ing with shop courses that lay the foundation for work in the skilled trades: too great an interest in, or proficiency at, things technical are considered "unfeminine." This puts most women at a disadvantage 2.These figures are for secondary and postsecondary education programs combined. Voca- tional education enrollments In public secondary schools were nearly 6.4 million in 1912-73 (U.S. Department of Health, Education, and Welfare, Office of Education, "Vocational Education: Characteristics of Students and Staff," 1972, by Nicholas A. Osso (Washington. D.C.: Government Printing Office, 1974), p. 1). National and State Advisory Councils on Vocational Education, "The Impact of the Vocational Education Amendments of 1968" (prepared for the U.S. congressional oversight hearings on the Vocational Education Act, April 1974), mimeographed (Washington, D.C.: Department of Health, Education, and Welfare, 1974). Money authorized by the Higher Education Act was specifically for training for "gain- ful employment as semiskilled or skilled workers or technicians or subprofessionals in recognized occupations (including new and emerging occupations) ; it prohibited the funding of programs leading to a bachelors degree" (Jerome Karable, "Protecting the Portals: Class and the Community College," Social Policy 5, No. 1 (May-June 1974) p. 15-16). Originally I intended this paper to be on the effect of vocational education on minori- ties as well as on women, but I found that the vocational education issues affecting the two groups are quite diverse. In fact, the effect of vocational education on and the needs of various minority groups are also highly varied. Therefore. to confine this paper to reason- able bounds, I am limiting it to women. But see Herbert E. Striner, "Toward a Funda- mental Program for the Training, Employment, and Economic Equality of the American Indian" (Washington, D.C.: Upjohn Institute. 1968), pp. 303-304; "The Negro and Voca- tional Education," in "The Role of Secondary Schools in the Preparation of Youth for Employment: A Comparative Study of the Vocational, Academic, and General Curricu- lums," editors, Jacob J. Kaufman, Carl J. Schaefer, Morgan V. Lewis, David W. Stevens, and Elaine W. House (University Park, Pa.: Institute for Research on Human Resources. 1967). A recent U.S. Office of Civil Rights sampling of 79 area vocational schools in Illi- nois, Indiana, Michigan, and Ohio found that only 135 of the 2.612 instructors in these schools were minority members (5.3 percent) despite the fact that the minority population of these four States is more than 10 percent, the representation of minorities among all the public elementary and secondary teachers of these four States approaches 10 percent. and minorities are a high proportion of the work force at all levels of skill and competence in these States (Peter E. Holmes. director, Office for Civil Rights. U.S. Department of Health. Education, and Welfare. "Enforcement of Civil Rights Statutes in Area Vocational-Techni- cal Schools" (paper prepared for the annual meeting of State directors of vocational educa- tion. Washington, D.C., May 1, 1974), p. 11). Sec. 108 of Public Law 90-576. PAGENO="0213" 205 when taking selection tests that examine familiarity with the tools and terms of the trade.7 Of the 6.4 million women and girls enrolled in public vocational programs across the country in 1972, 49 percent were being trained in home economics and another 28 percent in office practices.8 Table 1 provides a picture of the distribution of women and men in the sev- eral areas of vocational education. The evidence is that very few women are being trained for the 20.1 million jobs that the National Planning Association estimates will occur by 1980 in what have been viewed primarily as male occupations, including the better-paying trades, industrial, and tecimical jobs for which high schools now offer vocational courses with entry-level preparation.9 We do not have evidence that the clustering of women in vocationa.l programs is only a matter of access and social influence. Nor do we Irnow what proportion of women, given a real opportunity, would choose to move into traditionally male jobs. However, all the inforina- tion that we do have suggests that, given a real choice, women would move into every level of the industrial hierarchy.'° Indeed, between 1960 and 1970 when some doors were opened to women, the rate of increase of women in the skilled trades was eight times the rate of increase for men.'1 U.S. Department of Labor, Manpower Administration, "Women in Apprenticeship- Why Not?" Manpower Research Monograph No. 33 (Washington, D.C.: Government Print. lug Office, 1974), p. 1. These percentages include homemaking which does not fall within the definition of vocational education used In No. 2 above and by the U.S. Congress. Despite the congres- sional definition, most vocational education data provided by the U.S. Office of Education includes homemaking, which is not "preparation for gainful employment" (data calculated from Bureau of Adult, Vocational, and Technical Education, "Summary Data: Vocational Education, Fiscal Year 1972" (Washington, D.C.: Office of Education, U.S. Department of Health, Education, and Welfare, May 1973), p. 2). Ibid., pp. 2, 14-17. Vocational education is composed of the following major program areas: agriculture, distribution, health, home economics (gainful), office, technical, trades and industry, and special programs. Among the 19 major instructional programs included in the "distribution" area are advertising services, apparel and accessories, automotive, ~1nance and credit, floristry, and food distribution. Dental assistant, medical lab assistant, practical nurse, and physica1 therapy are among the instructional programs in the health area. Gainful home economics includes care and guidance of children and food management service. The office area includes accounting and computing, filing and office machines, stenog- Taphy, secretarial, and typing programs. Among the 21 major instructional programs in the technical area are aeronautical. architectural, automotive, chemical, electrical, and metallurgical technology. Among the 44 major Instructional programs in the trade and industrial area are air-conditioning, appliance repair, auto mechanics, blueprint reading, business-machine maintenance, carpentry, electricity, masonry, plumbing and pipefitting, drafting, graphic arts, cosmetology, and textile production (Leonard A. Lecht, "Priorities in Vocational Education: Recent Developments and Potentials for Change During the 1970's." Looking Ahead 20, No. 7 (November 1972) : 1; see Kaufman et al., op. cit., pp. n-3d). 10 See Dixie Sommers, "Occupational Rankings for Men and Women by Earnings," Monthly Labor Review, vol. 97, No. S (August 1974), tables 1, 2. 11 Janice Neipert Hedges and Stephen E. Bemis, "Sex Stereotyping: Its Decline in the Skilled Trades," Monthly Labor Review 97, No. 5 (May 1974) : 14. PAGENO="0214" 206 TABLE 1.-DISTRIBUTION OF FEMALES AND MALES IN VOCATIONAL EDUCATION FOR EACH PROGRAM AREA, 1972. Females Males Gainful (exclud- ing Including home- home- making) making (percent) (percent) Including home- Gainful making Number (percent) (percent) Number Agriculture 1 1 Distributive education 8 5 Health 8 4 Home economics gainful 7 4 Office 51 28 Tachnical education 1 1 Trades industry 8 4 Special program I 17 9 48, 153 17. 0 17. 0 293, 020 7. 0 7. 0 285, 071 1. 0 1. 0 240, 948 - 1 . 1 1 796,387 11.0 11.0 33, 006 6. 0 6. 0 279, 680 43. 0 43. 0 582, 715 15. 0 15. 0 848, 307 350, 403 51. 581 39, 018 555,491 304, 063. 2, 118, 288 721, 904 Total-gainful only 101 Home economics: homemaking 45 3, 505, 128 100 0 2, 916, 987 . 5 4, 931, 284 248, 745 Total gainful and homemaking 101 6, 422, 115 101. 0 5, 180, 029 I Includes prevocational, prepostsecondary, and remedial programs. Source: Calculated from Bureau of Adult, Vocational and Technical Education Summary Data: Vocational Education,. Fiscal Year 1972 (Washington, D.C.: U.S. Department of Health, Education, and Welfare. Office of Education, May 1973) JJ~ ~ Em~cATIox RESEARCH AND Wo~iIN Between 1965 and 1974 (inclusive), $250 million was spent for vo- cational education research and development under the authority of the Vocational Education Amendments of 1968 (PublicLaw 90_576)12 and administered by the Bureau of Occupational and Adult Education. of the U.S. Office of Education (TJSOE). Additional sums were ap- propriated for vocational education research and development by~ the TJ.S. Department of Defense, the Department of Labor. the Na- tional Institute of Education, other Federal agencies. the States in- depent of State-administered Federal funds, and private foundations. Little of this multimillion-dollar funding was devoted to projects directly related to the needs of women.'3 In 1974, out of the 93 fed- erally funded project under section 131(a), part C of the Vocational Educational Amendments of 1969, only one pertained directly to women (that, directed by Kaufman and Lewis, will be discussed be- low) ~ The allocation of so few part C funds in 1974 to projects for~ i~ Congress authorized $152.5 million, or nearly 4 tImes as much as was appropriated, for vocational education research and development for fiscal year 1974. Committee oa Vocational Education Research and Development. Assembly of Behavioral and Social Sciences, National Research Council, "Assessing Vocational Education Research and Development" (Washington. D.C. : National Academy ol Sciences. 1976). pp. 20-21. ~ Monica K. Sinding (research associate, Committee on vocational Education R~seareis and Development. Assembly of Behavioral and Social Sciences, National Research Council) reports receipt of several letters from Government officials indicating that they have no knowledge of plans for research In "how vocational education might be adjusted to better meet the needs of girls and women" (letters from Ralph R. Canter, program manager. Life Sciences Directorate, Air Force Office of Scientific Research, U.S. Department of the Air Force: Glenn C. Boerrlgter, chief Research Branch, Division of Research and Demonstra- tion, Office of Education, Sept. 16, 1974; Howard Rosen, Director, Office of Manpower Research and Development, Manpower Administration, U.S. Departnient of Labor). The Division of Manpower Development and Training of the U.S. Office of Education in 1974' noted that "over 90 percent" of female trainees in MDTA institutional programs "have been enrolled in either clerical, food services, or health related occupational training." and that although "the income level of both men and women increases after MDTA train- ing, `a * * the income level of women after training has never reached the pretraining income level of men" (U.S. Department of Health. Education. and Welfare. Government Contracting Office. Office of Education, "New Careers for Women," mimeographed (Wash- ington, D.C. : HEW, 1974)). `5U.S. Department of Health, Education, and Welfare. Bureau of Occupational and Adult Education, "Research Projects in Vocational Education: Fiscal Year 1974 Prorram, Funded Under Sec. 131(a). Pt. C. Vocational Education Amendments of of r96S. Public Law 90-576," mimeographed (Washington, D.C. : HEW, 1974). PAGENO="0215" 207 women is all the more striking given the critical observation the previ- oiis year by the National Advisory Council on Extension and Con- tinuing Education that ". . . although the legislative language Lof part C, section 132 of the Vocational Education Act] is general enough to permit funding of demonstration projects relevant to the needs of mature women . . . only one project has been funded with. any relevance to the concerns of women." `~ Furthermore, no projects for women were funded in 1974 under the federally administered part I or the regionally administered part D of the amendments.1~ Of the 50 State offices of vocational education, only three are currently sponsoring substantial research to determine how vocational education might better serve girls and women.'7 To date, no survey has been made to determine what percentage of the project directors funded under the vocational education amend- ments are women. Such a survey would appear to be called for under title IX of the 1972 education amendments. Women comprised 1? percent of the members of the American Vocational Education Re- search Association in 1973-74.'~ This figure would appear to be a justifiable benchmark against which to evaluate whether or not women are fairly represented as directors of research projects funded under the vocational educational amendments. In 1976, 56 percent of all women between 18 years of age and 64 were part of the labor force. They comprised 41 percent of the total labor force, compared with 26 percent in 1940.19 Most of these women,. the U.S. Department of Labor reports, work because they must. In March 1976, of the 39 million women in the labor force, 43 percent were either single, widowed, divorced, or separated. An additional quarter of all women in labor force were married to men who earned less than $10,500.20 In 1975, the median earnings before taxes, for ~ Kathryn L. Mulligan, "A Question of Opportunity: Women and Continuing Education" (Washington, D.C.: National Advisory Council on Extension and Continuing Education, March 1973), p. 25. `~ Interview, Mary Wingrove, Curriculum Development Branch, Bureau of Occupational and Adult Education. U.S. Department of Health Education, and Welfare. Aug. 12. 1974: interview, Dr. Joyce Cook, acting chief. Demonstration Branch. Bureau of Occupational and Adult Education, U.S. Department of Health, Education, and Welfare. Aug. 16. 1974. 17 Tile State of Illinois' Office of vocational Education in 1974 allocated $30,000 to JoAnn M. Steiger of Steiger, Fink, and Smith, Inc., McLean, va., for curriculum materials to encourage girls to consider a wider range of jobs. The same year, the New Hampshire Office of vocational Education used part C moneys to fund instructional materials geared to women on "Careers in Building Trades" (Langdom Pluiner, director of vocational education. Exeter High School. Exeter, N.H., letter to Pamela Roby, Nov. 4, 1974). Tile Division of Occupational Research and Development of the Texas Education Agency has used part C moneys to develop means to recruit women into vocational programs traditionally domi- nateci by men ("Equal Vocational Educational," a project by the Center for 1-luman Re- sources, University of Houston. in cooperation with the Houston Independent School District, sponsored by the Division of Occupational Research and Development. Texas Education Agency, February i975~-June 1976, mimeographed (Houston, Tex.: University of Houston), p.3). 18 Mary B. Kievit, president. American Vocational Education Research Association, letter to Pamela Roby, Mar. 25. 1975. 1~ U.S. Department of Labor. Bureau of Labor Statistics, "Employment and Earnings," January 1977 (Washington, D.C. : Government Printing Office. 1977). 20U.S. Department of Labor, Bureau of Lalor Statistics. "Marital and Family Charac- teristics of the Labor Force," March 1976 (Washington, D.C. : Government Printing Office, 1976). The Bureau of Labor Statistics' "lower budget" income standard was $8,181. "inter- mediate budget," $12626, and "high budget." $18,201 for an urban family of four in autumn 1973 (U.S. Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics, "Autumn 1973 Lrban Family Budgets and Comparative Indexes for Selected Urban Areas," June 16, 1974, press release, table A. p. 2). For a description of tile concepts and procedures used in the development of the BLS budgets, see U.S. Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics. Three Standards of Living for an Urban Family of Four Persons," bulletin No. 1570-5 (Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office, 1969), pp. 1-4. PAGENO="0216" 208 full-time year-round (50-52 weeks a year, 35 hours or more a week) female operatives was $6,251; of service workers (except private household), $5,414; and of nonfarm laborers, S6~937.2' Unequal pay for equal work. though important, is only a part of the larger question of why women workers receive low wages. Follow- ing an extensive analysis of census data, economist Mary Stevenson concluded that sex "segregation in labor markets is the real problem underlying the low wages that women receive. . . . Whenever women are cordoned off into a circumscribed number of occupations and industries, the consequences are low wages." 22 In line with Steven- son's conclusions, Elizabeth Waldman and Beverly McEaddy re- cently reported that although womeil, like men, find jobs in the fastest growing industries, today, as in decades past, no matter what industry women are in they remain clustered in fewer and lower paying occu- pations than men.23 Furthermore, female-intensive industries continue to pay consider- ably lower wages than male-intensive industries. For example, Wald- man and McEaddy report: "In January 1973, most industries paying average weekly earnings of less than $100 were female-intensive. Sev- eral were paying under $90 a week. while the weekly paycheck for all industries averaged $138. The average salary for all manufacturing workers was $159 a week in January 1913. For those in manufactur- ing industries that were female-intensive, the average was much lower-for example the apparel industry~ in which 81 percent of the employees were women, paid average weekly salaries of only $93." 24 Recently, women have been moving into the higher-paid skilled trades in greater numbers, but their percentage in these jobs remains small (1.6 percent of women over age 16 were employed in craft and kindred jobs in May 1974) ~25 despite research that shows that many women have the aptitudes to perform jobs that have been tradition- ally held by men. In fact. research by the Human Engineering Laboratory of the Johnson O'Connor Research Foundation indicates that no significant sex differences exist in fourteen of the aptitude and knowledge areas studied, and of the remaining areas, men excel in two and women in four.26 As more and more women need to earn enough to support them- selves and their families, and as it becomes clear that their low wages result largely from their being restricted to lower-paying jobs, voca- tional education has failed to move significantly to prepare them for 21 U.S. Department of Commerce, Bureau of the Census, "Money Income and Poverty Status of Families and Persons in the United States" (Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office, 1975). 22 Mary Stevenson, "Women's Wages: The Cost of Being Female" (paper presented to the Society for the Study of Social Problems. August 1972), p. 8: see Mary Stevenson. `The Determinants of Low Wages for Women Workers" (Ph. D. dissertation. University of Michigan. 1974) Barry Bluestone, William M. Murphy, and Mary Stevenson, "Low Wages and the Working Poor" (Ann Arbor: Institute of Labor and Industrial Relations, Univer- aity of Michigan, 19731. Figures for hourly wages which exclude the effect of part-time and overtime work support conclusions based on weekly earnings (Elizabeth Waidman and Beverly J. McEaddy, ~`Where Women Work-An Analysis by Industry and Occupation, Monthly Labor Review ~7. No. 5 (May 1974) : 7). 24 Ibid., p. 10. 25 In 1970 almost half a million women were working In skilled occupations, up from 277,000 in 1960 (Hedges and Bemis, p. 14) ; 524,000 females over age 16 were working in craft and kindred jobs in May 1974 (U.S. Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics. ~`Employment and Earnings: June 1974'~ (Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office, 1974), pp. 31, 32, tables 820, 821). 26 John J. Durkin, "The Potential of Women." research bulletin No. 87 (Washington, D.C. : Johnson O'Connor Research Foundation, 1972). PAGENO="0217" 209 the wider range of occupations that pay higher wages. Vocational education teachers and counselors, in fact, often discourage, or ac~u- ally refuse to allow women to take courses that would pre.pare them for these jobs. Even unwittingly they simply mislead women students by encouraging them to believe that as wives and mothers they will not need to work when, in fact, these students as young adults are fairly likely to be divorced and have to support themselves and their children or to have husbands who are unable to alone support a family. Eradicating these barriers to women and girls in vocational educa- tion is no longer a matter of gallantry, it is a matter of law. Title IX of the 1972 U.S. education amendments states: "No persons in the United States shall, on the basis of sex, be excluded from participating in, be denied the benefits of or be subjected to discrimination under any educational program or excluded from actively receiving federal financial assistance. ~" 27 This passage, as well as the subsequent antidiscrimination provisions with regard to admission, student. as- signment, and faculty employment practices applies to public or pri- irate institutions of vocational education. III. Pnoros~ns FOR RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT Prejudices and outmoded customs act as barriers to the full realiza- tion of women's basic rights which should be respected and fostered as part of our Nation's commitment to human dignity. freedom. and democracy . . . [John F. Kennedy, in establishing the President's Commission of the Status of Women, 1961] Both internalized and institutional barriers against women operate in vocational education.28 Internalized barriers refer to social atti- tudes and norms taught men and women about "feminine" and "mascu- line" behavior that can serve to limit both sexes' ability to think flexibly about what are appropriate abilities, activities, and social roles for men and women. A. girl considering a career in what has been viewed as a masculine occupation must overcome her own early socialization in which she was taught that traits such as physical and intellectual prow- ess and problem-solving ability were masculine.29 Despite much discus- sion about sex stereotypes in school materials and despite the increasing proportion of mothers in the national labor force, grade-school read- ~ Title IX, "Prohibition of Sex Discrimination," U.S. Education Amendments of 1972. Public Law 92-318, 92) Cong., S. 659, June 23, 1972; proposed rules, Department of Health, Education, and Welfare, Office of the Secretary, "Education Programs: Nonclis- crimination on the Basis of Sex," Federal Register, No. 120, pt. 2 (June 20, 1974), pp. 22228-22240. ~8 Similar factors operate in higher education (see Pamela Roby, "Structural and Inter- nalized Barriers to Women in Higher Education," in "Toward a Sociology of Women." editor. Constantina Safflios-Rothscliild (Lexington. Mass.: Xerox College Publishing. 1972), pp. 121-140, reprinted in Jo Freeman, editor, "Women: A Feminist Perspective" (Palo Alto, Calif.: Mayfield Publishing Co., 1974), pp. 171-194: and "Institutional Barriers to Women Students in Higher Education," in "Academic Women on the Move." editors, Alice 5. Rossi and Ann Calderwood (New York: Russell Sage Foundation, 1973), pp. 37-56). 29 Sandra L. Bems and Daryl J. Bems, "Training the Woman To Know Her Place"; Kathleen Barry, "A View From the Doll Corner"; Leah Hevn, "Children's Books": Jamie K. Krisof, "Textbooks and Conditioning"; Donna Keek, "The Art of Maiming Women." all in Women. vol. 1, No. 1 (fall 1969). Also see, Nancy Frazier and Myra Sadher, "Sexism In School and Society" (New York: Harper & Row, 1973) : Scott, Foresman & Co.. "Gui(l"- lines for Improving the Image of Women in Textbooks" (Glenview, Ill. : Scott, Foresman & Co., 1972) ; M. B. U'Ren, "The Image of women in Textbooks." in "Woman in Sexist Society: Studlei in Power and Powerlessness," editors, Vivian Gornick and B. K. Moran (T~ew ~iork: Basic Books, 1971) ; D. B. Graebner, "A Decade of Sexism in Readers," Reading Teacher, vol. 26 (October 1972). PAGENO="0218" 210 ers still tend to portray mothers in the kitchen.30 Given this early so- cialization, it is not surprising that a significant percentage of both adolescent girls and boys have unrealistic expectations about women's work lives. Indeed, a recent survey of high school seniors from fourteen Arkansas public schools found that 22.6 percent of the girls and 38.9 percent of the boys believed that "most girls will become housewives and never work outside the home." 31 Many believe that girls would be helped to consider a wider range of vocational choices if school books portrayed women in a wider range of roles and occupations. Changes in physical education courses, as well, would contribute to a- greater flexibility for women in the vocational choices. Courses in physical education that stress strength and en- -durance would not only widen girls' views of their potentialities but would also prepare them better to qualify for jobs that have these requirements. Internationalized barriers to women are buttressed liv institutional barriers, those organizational patterns and practices that hinder the efforts of girls to obtain preparation for teclmical jobs. the trades and industry. Among these institutional barriers are admission practices that exclude girls from traditionally male vocational education courses and schools and pregnant girls from vocational education of any type; the absence of women from faculties and administrations of schools, except in home economics and business skills; inadequate job counsel- ing for girls; and inadequate child care for the children of students. In the following section. I will trace the paths of vocational educa- tion students. For each step. I will examine barriers to women. review vocational education research related to the barriers. and suggest re- search and development projects to overcome the barriers. A. A cimissiom The first hurdle confronting girls and women seeking vocational ed- ucati'on is admission. Girls must fulfill all the admission criteria- con- corning intelligence and educational experience normally required of men and, in addition, must overcome some barriers not experienced by men. Jack Conrad WTillers observes that "the most- obvious and comnion sexist school practice is to track male students into industrial arts. agriculture. and technical trades. and female students into home- making, health occupations, and business. High school girls receive vo- - cationa.l training which prepares them for a very limited range of 30 See Leonore T. Weltzman, Deborah Elder, Elizabeth Hokada, and Catherine Ross. "Sex- Role Socialization in Picture Books for Preschool Children," American Journal of Sociol- `ogy 77. No. 6 (May 1072) : 1125-1151; Elizabeth Fisher. "children's Books: The Second Sex, Junior Division," New York Times Book Review (1070), pp. 89-94: Ann Eliasberg, Are You Hurting Your Daughter Without Knowing It?" Family Circle (February 19711. For an extensive analysis of 2,760 stories In 134 children's readers, see Women on Words and Images, "Dick and Jane as Victims: Sex Stereotyping in Children's Readers" (Prince- ton. N.J.: Women on Words and Images, 1972). It found that the stories included hiogra- `phies about S8 different men and 17 women. The overall ratio of stories about boys to *stories about girls was five to two. 31 Of the girls, 29.4 percent. and of the boys, 45 percent believed that "women should stick to women's jobs and not compete with men" (Peggy IV. Patrick. `Education and `Counseling Status Report on Young Men and Women: A Survey of Senior Students From 14 Public Secondary Schools in Arkansas" (Governor's Commission on the Status of Women. Little Rock, Ark., December 1972). cited in JoAnn M. Steiger. "Vocational Prepa- ration for Women: A Critical Analysis" (prepared for the research arid development unit, Division of Vocational and Technical Education. Board of Vocational Education and Reha- bilitation. State of Illinois, under contract No. RDD A5-240), mimeographed (Springfield: `State of IllinoIs, December 1974), p. 23). PAGENO="0219" 211 careors, usually those with low pay potential, or even no pay as housewives." 32 In a report of a survey of vocational schools, the director of the Of- fice of Civil Rights of the TJ.S.iDepartment of I-Iealth, Educatioii, and Welfare said that [a] chronic problem in area vocational schools is the separation of programs *and courses by sex. Even more serious is the existence of vocational schools that -accept only students of one sex. So far the survey has identified 17 single-sex insti- tutioas and I estimate we will have reports on about 40, most of them in the Northeast where, like other parts of the Nation, some traditions do not change * easily. Title IX of the education amendments provides for the elimination of vocational school policies that discriminate on the basis of sex. Their eligibility to participate in Federal programs is in danger until they adopt acceptable plans to transform themselves into institution.s that admit both sexes without l)ias. The other aspect of sex discrimination in vocational school has to do with segre- gation by course. Of the 1,000 (Office of Civil nights institutional questionnaire) forms surveyed so far, nearly all listed at least one course that was exclusive to one sex and nearly 60 percent reported that a majority of the course programs in the school were exclusively for males or exclusively for females.n Furthermore, the General Accounting Office's 1974 report on Voca- tional education stated: Catalogs describing vocational programs used the exclusive pronoun "he" when referring to course requirements in almost all subjects, and the exclusive pro- noun "she" when describing secretarial and nursing courses. Vocational officials agreed that potential students studying this material might get the impression that courses were restricted to members of one sex. Sometime.s classes were physically located in a manner which could encourage sex role stereotyping. In one secondary area vocational school, clerical, health and cosmetology courses were offered in one building and all other courses in an adjacent building. Female students questioned by us about their vocational in- terests said the courses they were taking did not necessarily coincide with what they hoped to do later. They said their choices for training were limited because girls were not allowed in the "boys" building. The school director agreed that girls might get that impression but said that girls could apply for courses offered in the other building.34 32 Jack Conrad Willers, "The Impact of Women's Liberation on Sexist Education and Its Implications for Vocational-Technical and Career Education" (paper delivered to the Regional Seminar/Workshop on Women in the World of Work conducted by the Technical Education Research Centers), mimeographed (Nashville, Tenn. : Department of liistory and Philosophy of Education, George Peabody College for Teachers, 1974), p. 8. Holmes (note 5 above), PP. 11-12 (see U.S. Department of Health, Education, and Welfare, Office for Civil Rights, "A Guide to Compliance Enforcement in Area Vocational- Education Schools (AVES)," prepared by Policy and Program Development Branch. liMe- -mentary and Secondary Education Division. mimeographed (Washington, D.C.: HEW. 1974)). For local studies of vocational school policies that discriminate on the basis of -sex, see Jean L. Ambrose, "The Dual Problems of Sexism and Sex Discrimination in Voca- tional Education in New Jersey," New Jersey Education Association Publication No: ID-WIE-Ol (Trenton, N.J.: State Department of Education) ; Marcia Federhush. "Let Them Aspire !" report of the Committee To Eliminate Sexual Discrimination in the Public Schools, 3d edition (Ann Arbor, Mich., January 1973) ; Gail Byran. "Discrimination on the lOuis of Sex in Occupational Education In the Boston Public Schools," mimeographed (Boston: Boston Commission To Improve the Status of Women, 1972) : Massachusetts Advisory Council on Vocational-Technical Education, "Status of Women In Occupational Education," in "An Evaluation of Occupational Education in Massachusetts: The Fourth Annual Report of the Massachusetts Advisory Council on Vocational-Technical Education" (Boston: Massachusetts State Department of Education, 1973), Pp. 81-85: Regina Healy and Diane Lund, "Chapter 622: One State's Mandate," Inequality in Education, No. 18 (October 1974), pp. 36-46; testimony of Raymond C. Parrot, executive director. Massa- chusetts Advisory Council on Vocational-Technical Education, submitted to the House of Representatives Committee on Education and Labor, Subcommittee on Elementary, Sec- ondary, and Vocational Education. Mar. 17, 1975. 3-i The Comptroller General of the United States, "What Is the Role of Federal Assistance for ~ ocational Education? Report to the Congress" (Washington D.C. : General Account- lag Office, 1974), pp. 84, 86. PAGENO="0220" 212 TABLE 2.-FEMALES AS A PERCENTAGE OF TOTAL VOCATIONAL EDUCATION ENROLLEES FOR EACH PROGRAM AREA, 1969 AND 1972 1969 1972 Agriculture 1 Distributive education 50 Health 96 6 52 81 Home economics: gainful 97 Office 38 Technical education 8 Trades/industry~_ 14 80 83 12 ~ Subtotal, gainful only Home economics: homemaking 97 40 60 Total, homemaking 51 55 Sources: 1969: U.S. Department of Health, Education, and Welfare, Office of Education, `Vocational Edu~ cation Characteristics of Teachers and Students, 1969," by Evelyn R. Kay (Washington, D.C., Government Printing Office, 1970), p. 9, 1972; HEW, Office of Education, `Vocational Education: Characteristics of Student and Staff 1972," pp. 11, 57. Table 2 shows that the distribution of secondary level vocational education feinaJe enrollees among program areas was slightly less stereotyped in 1972 than in 1969, but progress needs to be made for girls and boys to be equally distributed among program areas. Marilyn Steele has pointed out that the concentration of girls within this nar- row range of programs is discriminatory, not only because it results in women having considerably lower wages than men, but. because the pro- gram areas in which women are concentrated have a much higher student/faculty ratio and lower per student expenditures than those in which boys are concentrated. The program areas (health, homemak- ing, gainful home economics, and office programs) in which girls predominate had an average of 13 more students per teac.her than those in which boys are concentrated (agriculture, distribution, tech- nical, a.nd trades and industry) in 1972.~° Quoting from a 1974 speech by HEW's acting assistant. secretary of education, the GAO report identified the consequences of these forms of discrimination: "In one city the average, expected-wage for trades learned by girls was 47 perce.nt lower than for trades learned by boys. So not only were students channeled into traditionally male or female jobs, but girls were guided into employment `at lower income levels." Law enforcement rather t.han research is needed to end these forms of sex discrimination, and the Office of Civil Rights has only begun to enforce the law. Women's organizations and individual women have filed suit against officers of federal agencies who a.re re- sponsible for enforcing the lairs, title. IX. title VII. VIII, and the fifth amendment to the Constitution, which require that Federal funds not be extended to educational institutions that have employment prac: tices and education policies which discrimination on the basis of sex.3' °5 Marilyn Steele "women in Vocational Education," Project Base1ine supplemental report submitted under contract to Technical Education Research Centers, Inc. (Flagstaff, Ariz., Oct. 30, 1974), pp. 45, 47, 48. °~ Ibid. °° The women's Equity Action League, the National Organization for Woa~eu, the National Education Association, the Federation of Organizations for Professional women. tbe Association of women in Science, and the U.S. National Student Association are the plaintiffs in the case. Caspar weinberger, Secretary of the Department of Health. Educa- tion, and Welfare; Peter Holmes, director of the Office for Civil Rights. HEW: Peter J. Brennan, Secretary of the U.S. Department of Labor; and Philip J. Davis. director of the Office of Federal Contract Compliance. Department of Labor, are the defendants (`Women's Equity Action League et al. V. TVeinbergcr et a!., presently pending in the District Court for the District of Columbia (civil action No. 74-1720)). PAGENO="0221" 213 Adequate enforcement of these laws will require that a large number of professional and clerical personnel be added to the 847 professional and clerical workers who now staff the central and regional offices of the U.S. Office of Civil Rights, and that the enforcement budget be increased.35 Additional barriers confront pregnant girls when they seek to remain in or be admitted to secondary vocational programs in many parts of the Nation. Only anecdotal information is available so far on the ex- tent to which pregnant, physically able girls are refused admission to or retention in secondary vocational programs. At the postsecondary level the admission process is more complex. Many potential postsecondary women are not situated so that they can readily enter a course of study. They are scattered. Some are employed. Some are full-time housewives with infants or toddlers. Others have reared their children. Consequently, the first major question involved in the admission process of postsecondary vocational education pro- grams is, who is notified of the program? Publicity about a program relayed oniy through announcements in secondary schools and work- places is less likely to reach unemployed housewives than if it is also relayed through posters in laundromats and churches, PTA newslet- ters, television advertisements, or articles in the women's section of local newspapers. Likewise, at the workplace, publicity about voca- tional education programs is more likely to reach women if it is related through posters placed in those areas of the shop where they are likely to see them. A useful model is provided by Florence Mintz's demon- stration research project which used a multimedia approach including newspapers, brochures, direct mailings, radio, and television to recruit mature women (over age 30) into the drafting and design program of the Union County Technical Institute in New Jersey.39 The second question relating to postsecondary admission is, what im- pression does publicity concerning the program arid the pro~ram itself make on its female audience? Are only men pictured on the posters? Is the word "he" but not "she" used to describe applicants? Do women students have the impression from their friends that they will not. be welcome in particular programs? The third question is, how do post- secondary vocational education admission counselors advise women of various backgrounds? Do they recommend that mothers with young children not. enter the program? Do they tell women,"Of course you can enroll in the industrial course, hut I don't know why a. good-look- ing girl like you woul.d want to"? The final question is, as at the sec- ondary level, will teachers and admissions officers admit ~women to traditionally male courses of study? B. Eimroiiment Assuming access, women are confronted by a series of questions about the feasibility of enrollment in postsecondary vocational programs. 3S Statement of Nancy Penman, director of the Department of Program Development. American Federation of State. county, and Municipal Employees, testifying on l)ehalf of the Coalition of Labor Union Women on Sex Discrimination in Vocational Education before the Subcommittee on Elementary. Secondary. and Vocational Education of the House Committee on Education and Labor. Mar. 17. 1975. p. 9. ~ Florence Mintz. "Development of a Model for the Recruitment of Mature Women in Traditionally Male-Oriented Occupational Education Programs" (dissertation proposal for the Department of Vocational Education, Rutgers University, 1974), pp. 6, 5, 33. PAGENO="0222" 214 Mothers are the hardest hit. Some may be unable to enroll simply be~- cause schools are physically inaccessible or do not offer convenient hours of operation. Locating programs near public transportation lines and decentralizing them would enable larger numbers of women to~ take advantage of them. Financial aid and child care are also crucial problems. While. men need financial aid as much as women, the absence of adequate child- care facilities makes it difficult for women to enroll in a.ny advanced education offering, and even more difficult for those women with limited finances. These enrollment issues pertain primarily to women interested in postsecondary vocational education programs. But with increasing numbers of girls marrying early or becoming pregnant. inside, or out- side of marriage, there is also a growing need for suitable programs at the secondary level.40 0. Instruction Following a survey of secondary-school curricula, Janice Law Trecker concluded that "In perhaps no other area of the curriculum is there more need for non-stereotyped information and for positive role models for young women than in vocational training and career ediica- tion . . . traditional stereotypes about the proper work for women have combined with overt economic. discrimination to greatly restrict the aspirations and opportunities of the female secondary school stu- dent. . . . materials and programs which mi~ht enlarge the career possibilities and raise the aspirations of young women should be. a.. high priority item in any responsible school program." 41 The first. step along the way to supplying the kinds of materials and programs Trecker refers to would be an effort to screen curricular materials for sex stereotypes a.nd make revisions where the materials are found to~ be biased. Another useful sten would be the introduct.ion~ in the first year of see- ondary vocational education, of a course on the. changing career 1)at- terns of women in the TJnitecl States. manpower proiections and their implications for stu dents' occunational choices. the wage differentials of various occupations, and Federal and State equal emnloyment. laws. "A. Working Women's Guide to Her Job Rights." published by the `[F.S. Department of Labor. is a useful basic text. for the latter part of the course.42 In-service training programs that provide relevant in- ~° In 1969. the year for which the most recent statistics are available. there were 176.3Ofl births among unmarried girls age 19 and youneer and about tl1e same number to marrl°d girls. hut conceived prior to marriare. Approximately three-fourths of these girls said they had not wanted to become pregnant, most were banned from high school during their pregnancies, and many were unable to return after they gave birth (Lee Morris. "Estimat- ing the Need for Family Planning Services Among Unwed Teenagers." Family Planniag Perspectives 6. No. 2 (sprIng 1974) : 93 (hereafter F.P.P.) : see Sadja Golrismith. vary 0. Gabrielson. Ira Gabrielson, Vicki Mathews. and Leah Potts. "Teenagers. Sex, and Contra-- ception." F.P.P.. vol. 4. No. 1 (January 1972) : Melvin Zelnick and John F. Kantner. `The Resolution of Teenage First Pregnancies." F.P.P.. vol. (1. No. 2 (spring 1974) : end "Sexu- alitv. Contraception, and Pregnancy Among Younc Unwed Females in the United States." in Commission on Population Growth and the American Future Reports. vol. 1. Demo- gr°nhie and Social Aspects of Population (irowth. editors, C. F. Westoff and R. Parke (Washington. D.C.: Government Printing Office, 1972) : Mary E. Lane, "Contraception for Adolescents," FTP., vol. 5. No, 1 (winter 1973) Elizabeth A. House and Sad4a Gold- smith, "Planned Parenthood Services for the Young Teenager." F.P.P., vol. 4 No. 2 (AnriF 1972); Jane Menken, "The Health and Social Consequences of Teenage Childbearing," F.P.P., vol. 4, No. 3 (July 1972). 41 Jo nice Law Trecker, "Sex Stereotyping in the Secondary S~hioo1 Curriculum." Phi Delta Kappan 55, No. 2 (October 1973) : 112. 42 U.S. Department of Labor..Women's Bureau, "A Working Woman'~ Gtiide to Her Job' Rights" (Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office, 1974). PAGENO="0223" 215 formation and guidelines for teachers, counselors, and administrators would also be helpful. Another very important factor, though not normally thought of as part of instruction, is the presence of women in responsible positions in the school. The absence of women in administrative and faculty po- sitions outside of home economics, health, and business-related voca- tional programs serves as a silent but potent message to female stu- dents. Elizabeth Camp King found that, in public community junior colleges, women comprise only 29 percent of the total faculty and that 92 percent of the female vocational education faculty is concentrated in health (57 percent) , business (28 percent), and home economics (7 per- cent) ~ The other vocational programs-agriculture, distribution, technical, and trades and industry-are dominated by men.44 At the secondary level, table 3 shows that, although nearly equal numbers of men and women are vocational educators, men and women teachers are distributed differently among the eight major teaching areas.45 TABLE 3.-PERCENTAGE DISTRIBUTIONS OF VOCATIONAL EDUCATION TEACHERS IN SECONDARY SCHOOL SYS TEMS BY TEACHING AREA AND SEX, 1972-73 Teaching area Women 98. 7 In each area 20. 5 Home economics (homemaking) Home economics (occupational) 98. 2 5. 1 Health 88.2 3. 1 Office/business 71.8 22. 4 Distributive education 23.0 6. 7 Trades/industry 10.7 29. 1 Technical education 1.5 3.5 Agriculture (1) 9. 6 Total 49. 1 100.0 I Less than 0.05 percent. Source: HEW, Office of Education, `Vocational Education: Characteristics of Students and Staff, 1972," pp. 37, 45. ~ Elizabeth Camp King, "Perceptions of Female Vocational Faculty Members as Seen by Themselves and College Administrators" (State College: State Departunent of Vocational Education, Pennsylvania State University, 1974). ~ Ibid., p. 73. ~ Women received the following percentages of the degrees conferred in 1970-71 Bachelor of arts Master of arts Doctor of philosophy Industrial arts, vocational and vocational/technical educa- tion Agricultural education Home economics education 1.5 1.0 98.5 5.3 4.7 90.4 5.7 2.3 90 4 Source: U.S. Department of I-Iealth, Education, and Welfare, National Center for Educations Statistics, Office of Education, Earned Degrees Confered 19 70-71 by Mary Evans Hooper (Washington, D.C., Government Printing Office, 1973), pp. 173-208; cited in Steele, p. 113. PAGENO="0224" 216 At high administrative and advisory council levels, women appear in only token numbers. In a random sample of 400 area vocational schools, Sites found that men comprised 93 percent of the directors.~6 Only one woman iscurrently employed as a State director of vocational education or as a State supervisor outside of the fields of business, dis- tribution, health, and home economics.~~ To upgrade vocational education, part F of the 1967 Educational Professions Development Act (EPDA) and title II of the 1968 Voca- tional Education Amendments provided for "leadership development awards" for individuals to undertake graduate work in such areas as administration, supervision, teacher education, research, and curricu- lum development "in order to meet the needs in all the States for quali- fied vocational education personnel" (section 552) 48 and for grants to State boards "to pay the cost of carrying out cooperative" projects "for the training or retraining of experienced vocational education person- nel such as teachers, teacher educators, administrators, supervisors, and coordinators, and other personnel, in order to strengthen education programs and the administration of schools offering vocational edu- cation" (section 553) .~ In 1970-72, the leadership development awards were for 3-year doctoral studies; in 1973, they were used for 1-year leadership development programs. Eleven institutions of higher edu- cation received section 552 grants as well as State grants for section 553 programs.5° The directors and State coordinators for these programs. who in all 11 institutions were selected from the ranks of existing staff, were all white men.5' Of the 160 participants in the first 11, 3-year EPDA doctoral programs, only 20 (12.5 percent) were women; of the 56 participants in the 7 subsequent 3-year EPDA doctoral programs only 16 (28.6 percent) were female. Women, however, comprised a con- siderable higher and increasing percentage of the participants of the ~The random sample of 400 directors was drawn from a total of 2.14S area vocational school directors in the United States (Patricia Tucker Sites. "Perceptions of Professional Female Vocational Faculty and Their Administrators of the Role of Professional Women in Area Vocational Schools" (DR. dissertation, Pennsylvania State University. 1975). pp. 29. 441. In December 1972 the house of delegates of the American Vocational Association at its Chicago convention passed a resolution that "the * Board of Directors authorize a study of professional employment in vocational education with regard to the number of males and females at every level of the profession, the salaries paid to each category of employee, and any restrictions in promotional opportunities because of sex." However, the board of directors did not authorize the study (Elizabeth Camp King. preface: and inter- view, Angelo Gilli, vice president, American Vocational Association. Mar. til. 1975). The Sites and the King studies are parts of a series on the status and roles of professional women in vocational education being conducted in the Pennsylvania Department of Voca- tional Education and Pennsylvania State University. Other studies under this aegis are Thomas E. Long's "Vocational Female Faculty in Postseeondary Proprietory Schoolo." and Eugenio Basualdo's dissertation (in process) on professional women and school administrators in comprehensive high school vocational programs. The Pennsylvania State University Department of Vocational Education has been granted only S3.S77 to conduct all of these projects (by the Department of Vocational Education. State of Pennsylvania. prolect No. 14-3064-School Unit 4-10-14-720-1"). Though it has been most productive nationally in research on women, this department was denied funds to replicate a study of men with women subjects (Angelo C. Gilli, Sr.. professor and chairman, graduate studies and research, Department of Vocational Education, Pennsylvania State University. letter to Pamela Roby, Apr. 1, 1975). 4' Carol Karasik, "Women: The Job Ahead" (Washington. D.C.: Technical Education Research Centers, January 1974), p. 2. In May 1975. one woman, Wilma Ludwig, was appointed New Mexico's State Director of Vocational Education. 4S Public Law 90-576, 90th Cong., HR. 18366, Oct. 16, 1968, an act to amend the Voca- tional Education Act of 1963, sec. 552(a). 4~ Ibid., sec. 553(a). ~° The 11 institutions were University of California, Los Angeles: Colorado State: Con- necticut: Georgia; Illinois; Minnesota; Rutgers; North Carolina State: Ohio State: Okla- homa State: Oregon State (Phillyis D. Hamilton, Marian S. Stearns, Harold R. Winslow. Georria Gillis, and Kathryn A. Preecs, "The Education Professions 1973-74: Personnel Development Ia Vocational Education" (Menlo Park, Calif.: Stanford Research Institute, Oct. 31. 1974. arepared for National Center for Educational Statistics). pp. 9. 10). 51 Ibid., pp. 89-90, 93. PAGENO="0225" 217 less prestigious 1-year EPDA graduate programs (25.4 percent in fis- cal year 1973 and 42.4 percent in fiscal year 1974) *52 Among the members of the 50 State advisory councils on vocational education in 1974, less than 17 percent were women.53 Three women (only one of whom was employed) and 18 men comprised the National Advisory Council of Vocational Education in 1975.~~ The require- ments for members of the council set by the Vocational Education Amendments of 1968 attempt to satisfy such interest groups as labor, management, State, and local vocational education program aciminis- trators, representatives of the handicapped, representatives of the "disadvantaged," and adult vocational education groups,55 but there is no effort made to include persons familiar with the special problems and needs of women. The inclusion of such a person would help assure that issues relating to women are treated adequately. The inclusion of more women on the advisory councils would obviously help to elimi- nate the stereotype that women do not belong in positions of responsibility. D. Counseling In their advice to students, counselors may, wittingly or not, re- inforce stereotypes that prevent women from thinking more broadly about career decisions.56 Much of the information they provide (in the tests and career in- terest inventories they use), the literature they distribute, and the films they show contain traditional views of occupational and career opportunities for women.57 Counselors would benefit greatly in their efforts to overcome their stereotyped materials from the National ~ Muriel Shay Tapman, education program specialist, vocational education personnel development staff, Office of Education, Department of Health, Education, and Welfare, letter to Pamela Roby, Mar. 13, 1975. (Note: fiscal year 1974 funds were utilized for programs which began in September 1974 and terminated in August 1975.) ~ In 1974, 862 men, 149 women, 108 blacks (81 males), 25 Spanish surname (19 males), 17 American Indian (12 males), 15 "other" (Filipinos, Orientals, Hawaiians-all males), and 846 caucasians (735 males) comprised the State advisory councils on vocational edu- cation (data from JoAnn Steiger, National Advisory Council on Vocational Education staff member, interview, Aug. 9, 1975). ~` The female members of the National Advisory Council on Vocational Education are Joanne Cohen (student), Caroline Hughes, and Margo Thornly. ~ Public Law 90-576, sec. 104. Because appointments on State advisory councils on vocational education are not restricted numerically, appointment to them is less competitive than to the National Advisory Council. The State councils are appointed by th~ Governor. except in those States where the State board of education is elected by the people, In which case the council Is appointed by the president of the State board (Martha G. Bachman. chairperson, Committee on Equal Educational Opportunity, National Advisory Council on ~Tocational Education, letter to Pamela Roby, Dec. 2, 1974). ° For a fine annotated bibliography on the determinants of women's career choices, see Helen S. Astin, Nancy Sunlewick, and Susan Dweck, "Women: A Bibliography on Their Education and Careers" (Washington, D.C.: Human Service Press, 1971), pp. 27-79. Compare Ella Mae Bowen, "Factors Related to Teacher Assignment of Students to School Curriculums," an Ed.D. dissertation, Department of Education, University of Illinois at Urbana, 1975~; Margaret Mosure Torrie. "Identification of Student Employment Deter- minants by Cluster Area and by Sex, Related to Participating and Nonparticipating Cooperative Education Youth in Selected Urban Programs," an Ed.D. dissertation, Depart- ment of Education, University of Illinois, Urbana, 1976. ~7 No indepth study has been made of the effect of counseling on girls' role development. Results of a 4-year longitudinal study of female undergraduate students conducted at Stanford University show that "women students need special encouragement to develop Intellectual, artistic, and professional ambitions." The study revealed further that "some- times e.ven a subtle form of consent or disapproval from a male served as a stimulus for a young woman to advance or retreat" (Marjorie M. Lozoff, "Abstract of College Influences on the Role Development of Female Undergraduates," mimeographed (Palo Alto, Calif.: Stanford Institute for the Study of Human Problems, 1969), p. 3: compare Agnes C. Rezier, "Characteristics of High School Girls Choosing Traditional or Pioneer Vocations," Person- nel and Guidance Journal, vol. 45, pp. 659-665). 91-686---77----15 PAGENO="0226" 218 Institute of Education's recently developed "Guidelines for Assess- ment of Sex Bias and Sex Fairness in Career Interest Inventories." Another good resource for career counselors is the film on women in apprenticable occupations entitled "Never Underestimate the Power of a Woman," produced by the U.S. Department of Labor-snonsored Wisconsin IiVomen in Apprenticeship project, which is available from the 1Visconsin Employment Service. Though this film portrays only women in their thirties or older, it would be appreciated as ~vell by younger girls, especially in the absence. to date, of a similar film fo'r younger women. The Sex Equality in Guidance. Opportunities project (SEGO) of the American Personnel and Guidance Association (APGA) funded by the U.S. Office of Education also offers elemen- tary and secondary school counselors technical assistance in chan&ng sex-role stereotypes.59 Vocational education counseling for women would be greatly en- hanced by offering summer institutes or in-service training programs to counselors to provide them with the most up-to-date information and to assist them in finding new means to help junior and senior high school girls consider a wide range of job possibilities and enroll in courses that will help them to qualify for jobs other than those traditionally viewed as women's. At the point that a girl decides she would like a career in the labor force, a counselor can be very helpful. Considering her earlier social- ization, a girl may begin to experience self-doubt, the result of "inter- nalized ba.rriers"-is this the proper thing for a. woman to do? Will men still like me? Will I lose my femininity? Will I be able to do a good job? She may also discover that she cannot gain access to the courses she wants, and that she is unable to find a counselor who has more than a minimum of information or support for her.60 Indeed, Bailey and Stadt point out that the knowledge base required for effective, informed occupational advising of girls has yet to be devel- oped. They explain that "major theoretical formulations have not distinguished between the sexes, and empirical tests for these theories have been limited almost entirely to boys and men. Only a few studies have approched female vocational behavior from the standpoint of the currently accepted theories." 61 Certainly, McAlister as well as Bailey 58 National Institute of Education, "Guidelines for Assessment of Sex Bias and Sex Fair- ness in Career Interest Inventories,'~ in Issues of Sex Bias and Sex Fairness in Career Interest Measurement, editor, Esther B. Diamond (Washington, D.C.: Government Print- ing Office 1975, available from Career Education Program, National Institute of Educa- tion, Washington, D.C. 20208), pp. xxlil-xxiX; compare Carol B. Crump, editor, Report of Proceedings: Workshop on Sex Bias and Sex Fairness in Career Interest Inventories (Washington, D.C.: National Institute of EducatIon, November 1974). ~° In its descriptive brochure, "The Sex Equality in Guidance Opportunities Project." SEGO states, "In considering the question of sex equality, it is important to recognize that sex bias need not be blatant or malicious before it can be damaging. Counselors and other educators are key individuals who motivate and guide students in the selection of course offerings and careers. Their programs and materials should be free of sex bias. To reach these key persons 5 8 8 the State trainers of the SEGO project (one from each State and the District of Columbia), were selected and brought to Washington, D.C., for an intensive 4-day training workshop (on various questions related to sex discrimination 8 8 * and strategies for change. 8 8 8 [T]he State trainers 8 8 * will go back to their States and conduct local workshops C * 8 under the project's direction and funding. 8 8 8 [A] multi- media kit for [their] * C C use ~ * ~ contains nearly 100 Items of print materials, a new filmstrip, [a] booklet [which] lists organizations, publishers and reports [about] C C * sex bias * [and] a list of the 51 State trainers. * * * A final report of the project will be available In the fall of 1975." Copies of this booklet or information about the project can be obtained from the SEGO project, APGA, Sex Equality in Guidance Opportunities Project, 1607 New Hampshire Avenue, NW., Washington, D.C. 20009. 6O Compare Kaufman et al (note 5 above), pp. 10-14; JoAnn Gardner, `Sexist Counsel- ing Must Stop," Personnel and Guidance Journal 49 (1971) : 705-715. ~ Larry J. Bailey and Ronald W. Stadt, "Career Education: New Approaches to Human Development (Bloomington, Ill. : McKnight Publishing Co., 1973), p. 140. PAGENO="0227" 219 and Stadt suggest that research needs to be undertaken on the manner in which females make career decisions and on how career advising processes for girls and women may be improved.02 Improved career counseling, Bailey and Stadt suggest, should begin with the concept of total life planning. Since, they write, a shift has occurred from the "traditionally organized family where the husband was the sole breadwinner and the wife was the sole homeniaker, to multiple-role families in which both partners share responsibilities for the household tasks and for earning * * * young women need to prepare for multiple roles during different periods of their lives." ~ Girls might also be given the opportunity to consider being, and to prepare for being, single most or all their Jives. Bailey and Stadt recommend two areas in which changes should begin. The first is to expose myths about women. The U.S. Department of Labor's hand- out entitled "The Myth and the Reality" provides accurate informa- tion in a readable form about such myths as "women work only for `pin money,'" women cost companies more because they are "ill more than male workers," and "men do not like to work for women super- visors." ~ The se.cond area is "expansion of educational programs and services to help girls and women become aware of the broader oppor- tunities open to them." Here, they suggest that consciousness-raising group meetings might expedite "recognition of the fact that many of women's problems are universal and not individual" and that this recognition might accelerate "individual discovery and self-develop- ment." 65 This process can be enriched by occasional meetings with counselors who utilize informational brochures and slide shows con- cerning vocational and educational opportunities. I would add seven suggestions. Vocational education counselors might provide girls with tours of a variety of vocational classrooms and visits to a variety of industries so that they may learn not only about the nature of specific jobs but also about wage differentials among jobs and industries.66 Women employed in a wide range of traditionally male and female occupations might be invited to discuss their experiences with students. Although boys are generally better informed than girls about industrial and other jobs, such tours and discussions would also be useful to them. Counselors could provide girls and women with information about occupational trends. Be- cause we do not know enough about how sex-role stereotypes dam- pen girls' motivations to pursue traditionally male careers, imagina- tive research is needed. For example, a series of posters showing women in different kinds of work with various kinds of slogans could be tested for varying responses among girls of differing ages.67 Girls and women already in a traditionally male vocational education pro- gram could serve as "big sisters" to those newly entering the program. ~ Bernard Milton McAlister, "Curriculum Selection Success of 10th Grade Girls as Re- lated to Selected Ninth Grade Characteristics" (State College: State Department of \Toca~ tional Education, Pennsylvania State University, 1974), pp. 92-03; H. A. Rose and C. F. Elton, "Sex and Occupational Choice," Tournal of Counseling Psychology, vol. IS, No. 5 (1971). °~ Bailey and Stadt, p. 143. ~ U.S. Department of Labor, Women's Bureau, "The Myth and the Reality" (Washing- ton. D.C.: Government Printing Office, 1971). ~ Bailey and Stadt, p. 146. ~ Sally Hillsman Baker conducted an In-depth study of a large New York City vocational high school and found that, through a variety of actions, the school sorted women into different levels of work according to their racial and ethnic background (Sally Hillsman Baker, "Entry Into the Labor Market: The Preparation of Negro and White Vocational High School Graduates" (Ph.D. dissertation, Columbia University, 1970). °~ I am indebted to Norma Wikler for this idea. PAGENO="0228" 220 Simulated job-experience programs like those developed by John Krumboltz et al. in medical laboratory technology, X-ray technology, sales, and banking could be developed for girls and women in job areas in which expansion is projected. The Krumboltz Career Kits present problems "typical of those encountered by workers in the five occupations. The materials present the information necessary to solve the problems," give "subjects an opportunity to solve the problems," and allow "them to compare their answers with the correct ones." The Krumboltz Kits "consistently produced more interest and more occu- pational information seeking" among students than control treat- ments.68 Joseph Champagne has pointed out that, to insure the accept- tance of such counseling and educational programs by parents and community members, counselors should educate these groups about the need to open traditionally male occupations to women. Open houses and meetings with parents; addresses to community groups; television, radio, and newspaper exposure; film and/or slide presen- tations; and the distribution of informational brochures may all be useful.69 The counselor's role in vocational education for women needs to be `expanded to include actual job counseling. In many communities, despite equal employment laws, jobs in traditionally male occupations are still not made available to women. Kaufman's study shows that men are considerably more likely than women to obtain their first job through a relative or friend.70 Because this "old boy" system main- tains prejudices, and because many employers have thefr own sexist inclinations, vocational education counselors need to develop strate- gies to encourage local employers to hire women and to increase t~he number of women they hire directly from vocational education schools for nontraditional occupations. Along with increasing employers' willingness to hire women and helping women students to find jobs, counselors could teach students techniques for applying and interviewing for jobs. Because of their early socialization, many women are overly modest about their abili- ties. They need to be taught that a bit of honest boasting is called for on job applications and in interviews. 68 The Krumboltz kits are now being distributed by Science Research Associates under the name "Job Experience Kits" (see John D. Krumboltz, Lawrence E. Sheppard, G. Brian Jones. Richard G. Johnson, and Ronald D. Baker, "vocational Problem-Solving Experiences for Stimulating Career Exploration and Interest," final report to U.S. Office of Education under contract No. OE-5-S5-059 (School of Education, Stanford university, August 1967) Krumboltz, Ronald D. Baker, and Richard G. Johnson, "vocational Problem-Solving Experiences for Stimulating Career Exploration and Interest: Phase II," final report to U.S. Office of Education under contract No. OEG-4-7-070111-2890 (School of Education. Stanford University, August 1968) ; documents Ed015517 and Ed029101. available from the ERIC Document Reproduction Service, P.O. Drawer 0, Bethesda, Md. 20044). Cf. Linda B. Stebbins, Nancy L. Ames, Ilana Rhodes, "Sex Fairness in Career Guidance: A Learning Kit," Cambridge, Mass.: Abt Publications, 1976; Louise Vetter, Alice J. Brown, Barbara J. Sethney, "Women in the Work Force: Followup Study of Curriculum Materials," Colum- bus, Ohio: Center for Vocational Education, Ohio State University, 1975. 69 "Equal Vocational Education," a project by the Center for Human Resources, Uni- versity of Houston, in cooperation with the Houston Independent School District, sponsored by the Division of Occupational Research and Development, Texas Education Agency, February 1975-June 1976, mimeographe.d (Houston, Tex.: University of Houston. 1976), p. 5; cf. Jane Lerner, Fredell Bergstrom, and Joseph E. Champagne, "Equal Vocational Edu- cation, Houston, Tex.: Center for Human Resources, University of Houston, 1976. PAGENO="0229" 221 IV. CoNcLusIoN Civil rights laws now state that women may participate fully and equally in the labor market. The industrial and social fabric of this nation requires that women be granted training to qualify for full participation and to be self-supporting. What is required now to help fulfill the Federal mandate is the extension of all types of vocational education to women. In the appendix, I offer a series of suggestions for amending of the U.S. "Vocational Education Amendments of 168" which are designed (a) to include the female sex specifically, (b) to treat women with equality in all aspects of vocational educa- tion, and (c) to take various steps to advance opportunities for girls and women and to overcome sex stereotyping and sexual biases within vocational education programs. In addition, recommendations are made for Federal and State policy on affirmative action matters, as well as the development and use of quality films to broaden women's participation in vocational education and jobs. Finally, suggestions are offered to guarantee equity to women in research and develop- ment programs in the vocational education field. At the local level, policymakers, administrators, and program de- velopers could assist high school girls by removing barriers to their entry into schools and courses for which they otherwise qualify, by reviewing the curriculum and counseling materials for misleading stereotypes, and by providing inservice training programs for teach- ers and counselors. At the postsecondary vocational education level, policymakers and administrators could help women by providing child care at low sliding-scale rates, by examining who is notified by postsecondary vo- cational education programs and extending publicity to all groups of women currently not reached, and by examining all public informa- tion materials for sex bias. They might also locate vocational, pro- grams near public transportation lines and decentralize programs so that women without cars may participate in them, form student sup- port groups of women who have returned to school after several years of absence, and ascertain that all students receive information con- cerning recent equal employment laws and opportunities for women in traditionally male occupations. We can hope that when Federal, State, and local legislators and administrators establish a full employment economy, they will also provide women with equal vocational education opportunities. APPENDIX RECOMMENDATIONS FOR VOCATIONAL EDUCATION AMENDMENTS TouTard the goal of guaranteeing equity for women in vocational education, I recommend that the Vocational Educational Amendments of 10~8 be further amended as follows: Section 101 ("Declaration of Purpose") to state that "members of both sexes shall be given equal educational opportunities in all areas of voca- tional education." Section 104 ("National and State Advisory Councils"-subsections [a] [1] and [b] [1]) of the Amendments to state that the National and the State Advisory Councils on Vocational Education "shall include persons (a) who are familiar with the special problems women must confront in vocational education, and (b) wli o are representative of women." PAGENO="0230" 222 Section 106 ("Labor Standards") which states: "All laborers and me- chanics employed by contractors or subcontractors on all construction projects assisted under this title shall be paid wages at rates not less than those prevailing as determined by the Secretary of Labor in accordance with the Davis-Bacon Act, as amended (40 U.S.C. 276a-276a-5) " to state, `and shall be hired, promoted and paid wages without regard to sex, race, color, religion or national origin." Section 107 ("Limitation on Payments under This Title") to include a sub- section (c) which states: "Nothing contained in this title shall be construed to authorize the making of any payment under this title for sexually segre~ gated instruction, or for the construction, operation, or maintenance of any facility which is used or is to be used for sexually segregated instruction." Section 122 ("Uses of Federal Funds"), subsection (a) (6) ("Grants to States for Vocational Guidance and Counseling") to authorize, as Steiger has recommended, the use of funds to educate guidance counselors about the changing wOrk patterns of women, to train them in ways of effectively con- fronting occupational sex stereotyping and of helping girls and women base their career choices on their occupational needs and interests rather than on sex stereotypes,1 and to develop career-counseling materials which are free of sexual bias. Section 122 (a) (8) to authorize the use of funds for the development of curriculum materials and in-service training programs to overcome sex bias in vocational education programs and to enable teachers to meet the voca- tional education needs of female students.2 Section 122 (b) to authorize 100 percent federal funding to states for the establishment of an Office for Women within the State Departments of Vo- cational Education which would (a) gather and analyze data on the status of female students and employees throughout the state vocational educa- tion system: (b) coordinate actions to correct the problems uncovered by the data analysis: (e) review the dissemination of grants by the State De- partment of Vocational Education and assure that women's interests and needs are addressed by the projects funded; (a) review vocational educa- tion programs in the state for sex bias; (e) review all hiring, firing, and promotion procedures within the state vocational education system for sex discrimination; (f) review and submit recommendations for the annual State Vocational Education Plan; (g) assist local school systems and others in the state in improving vocational education opportunities for women: and (it) develop an annual report on the status of women within the state's vocational education system; submit it to the State Commis- sioner Of Vocational Education. the State Board of Vocational Education, the State and the National Advisory Councils on Vocational Education, the State Commission on the Status of Women, and the Commissioner of the U.S. Office of Education; and make it available to all interested parties.3 Section 1.23 ("State Plans") subsection (a) (3) which reads: "Any State dessring to receive the amount for which it is eligible for any fiscal year pursuant to this title shall submit a State plan at such time, in such detail. and containing such information as the Commissioner deems necessary. which meets the requirements set forth in this title. The Commissioner shall approve a plan submitted by a State if he determines that the plan submitted for that year . . . (3) has been submitted only after the state hoard . . ." to also state: (C) has assured the review of the Plan by the Office for Women of the State Department of Vocational Education, has itself given due consideration to the needs of female students, and has as- sured that all programs and projects included under the plan are designed to attract persons of both sexes and that no ~ex stereotyping exists in the programs and projects included under the plan. Section 123. subsection (a) (6) to specify that 5 percent of Part B funds be set aside for a State incentive program for local school districts to en- courage schools to overcome sex bias in vocational education. 1 JoAnn M. Steicer, "Overcoming Sex Stereotyping in Vocational EducatIon: Ilecom- menilations for Revising the Vocational Education Amendments of 196S." mimeographed (McLean. Va.: Steiger, Fink, 1974), p. 6. lJhici p.5. Wisconsin and North Carolina now have State-funded positions to review all voentional education programs anti research for sexual and racial bias and to encourage positive pro- grams for women anti minorities. PAGENO="0231" 223 Section 123, subsection (a) (17) to require the submision of employment and enrollment data by sex for all vocational education programs. Section 131 ("Research and Training in Vocational Education-Author- ization of Grants and Contracts") subsections (a) and (b) to provide for 5 percent of all grant funds to be set aside to be used as incentives to grant and contract recipients to include females in their (1) research and train- ing programs, (2) experimental, developmental, or pilot programs, and (3) dissemination of information derived from the foregoing programs or re- search. Section 132 ("Research and Training in Vocational Education-Uses of Federal Funds") to include a subsection stating that funds may be used to investigate sex bias in the vocational education system; and to develop research, training, experimental, developmental, and pilot programs; eval- uation, demonstration, and dissemination projects; and new vocational ed- ucation curricula and counseling materials designed to equalize vocational education opportunities for male and female students and eliminate sex stereotyping within vocational education. Section 133 ("Applications for Research and Training Funds") to include a subsection (c) stating that the Commissioner `shall encourage both sexes to apply for grants and contracts under Part C. Section 143 ("Exemplary Programs and Projects-Users of Funds") subsection (a) (2) to additionally include funding for (F) programs de- signed to overcome traditional sex stereotyping in vocational education programs, in placement services, and in programs and projects th achieve the purposes of this part, including those of manpower agencies and in- dustry. Section 143, subsection (b) (1) to include a provision (D) that effective procedures and policies will be adopted by grantees and contractors to as- sure that no sex stereotyping exists within their programs or projects in- cluding the exclusive use of the term "he" in materials developed under the program or projects. Section 143, subsection (b) to include a provision stating (5) that the Com- missioner shall encourage both sexes to apply for grants and contracts under Part D. Section 161 ("Consumer and Homemaking Education") subsection (b) to additionally state that for purposes of this part the state plan approved under Section 123 shall set forth a program under which federal funds paid to state from its allotment under subsection (a) will be expended solely for (3) educational programs and ancillary services designed to attract students of both sexes. Section 173 ("Cooperative Vocational Education Programs-Plan Require- ments") subsection (a) to specify that (1) funds will be used only for de- veloping and operating cooperative work-study programs as defined in Sec- tion 175 which . . . are free of sex stereotyping; and (8) accounting. evalua- tion, and follow-up procedures as the Commissioner deems necessary will be provided including evaluation of the program's benefit to both sexes. Section 182 ("Work-Study Programs for Vocational Education Students- Plan Requirement") subsection (b) to state that a work-study program shall . . . (2) provide that employment under such work-study program shall be furnished only to a student who . . . (D) has been selected without regard to sex, race, color, religion, or national origin. Section 191 ("Curriculum Development in Vocational and Technical Edu- cation-Authorization") subsection (c) (1) to additionally state that sums appropriated pursuant to subsection (b) shall be used by the Commis- sioner . . . (G) to promote the development and dissemination of vocational education curriculum materials which are free of sex stereotyping and which aid both sexes in learning about a wide range of occupational subjects regardless of the sexual stereotypes previously associated with them, to train personnel in the use of these curricular materials, and to evaluate existing vocational-technical education curriculum materials as to sex bias. Section 552 ("Training and Development Programs for Vocational Educa- tion Personnel-Leadership Development Awards") subsection (a) to specify that the Commissioner shall make available leadership development awards in accordance with the provisions of this part only upon his determination that . . . (D) adequate provision has been made for appropriate selection procedures without regard to sex, race, color, religion, or national origin. PAGENO="0232" 224 Section 553 ("Exchange Programs, Institutes, and Inservice Education for Vocational Education Teachers, Supervisors, Coordinators, and Adminis- trators") subsection (b) (2) to state that Grants under this section may be used for projects and activities such as . . . (2) in-service training programs for vocational education teachers and other staff members to prove the quality of instruction, supervision, and administration of vocational educa- tion programs; and to overcome sex stereotyping and sexual biases within vocational education programs. Recommendations for Improved Federal and State Policies and Practices The U.S. Department of Health, Education, and Welfare should fully implement the guidelines for Title IX of the Education Amendments Act of ~t972 (P.L. 92-318). The Administration should increase its appropriations for Federal and re- gional enforcement budgets for the U.S. Office of Civil Rights and the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission to the full amount authorized by the U.S. Congress so that Federal civil rights laws may be enforced in vocational education and elsewhere; state administrations should do likewise for the enforcement of state civil rights laws. The U.S. Commissioner of Education should take steps to assure that ap- propriate affirmative action procedures are followed in the hiring and pro- motion of state vocational education directors, state vocational education supervisors, area vocational school directors, state vocational education coor- dinators, state research coordinating unit directors, institutional directors of EPDA (Education Professional Development Act) programs, and voca- tional education teachers and counselors; in the selection and placement follow-up of participants for EPDA programs; and in the selection of voca- tional education research and training project directors. The U.S. Office of Education should develop and distribute quality films for high school girls and their parents on opportunities for women in appren- ticeship programs and in traditionally male courses of study and jobs, on women's needs for good-paying work today, and on equal employment laws and women's job rights. To guarantee equity to women in vocational educa- tion the following efforts need to be made: The U.S. Commissioner of Education and State Directors of Vocational Education: assure that a statement that "sex discrimination including sex stereotyping is illegal in any form" is prominantly positioned on all an- nouncements of, applications for, and approvals of research and development grants. The U.S. Commissioner of Education: keep annual status reports on the percentage of research and development grant or contract directors who are women: provide for the dissemination of all research findings on means of improving the effectiveness of vocational education for women to all state vocational education directors, all directors of state vocational education offices for women, and all directors of vocational education systems within the United States. PAGENO="0233" APPRENTICESHIP B~ NORMA BRIGGS * CONTENTS Page I. Introduction 225 II. The picture today 225 III. Exclusion of women from apprenticeship 226 IV. "Women's Work": Underrated, so not apprenticeable~_____ 228 V. Some recommendations 230 VI. Modest progress 231 I. INTRODtTCTION Apprenticeship is an avenue to skilled, responsible, and well-paid employment which has been, and is, blocked to most women. After analyzing current apprenticeship statistics and discussing the reasons for the virtual exclusion of women from apprenticeship, this paper makes recommendations for action to encourage women's participa- tion. Without full employment, however, efforts to increase women's participation in apprenticeship will be less than effective, the paper concludes. Apprenticeship opportunities tend to decrease as unem- ployment increases; women also tend to suffer unemployment dispro- portionately. II. THE PICTURE TODAY The most recent Bureau of Apprenticeship and Training report listed 3,545 women as registered apprentices in the United. States as of June 1976.1 Women constituted slightly over 1 percent of all 267,645 registered apprentices. There are 415 different trades and crafts learned through appren- ticeship at this time.~ Nationally the 21 construction trades account for approximately 64 percent of all apprentices. Another 32 trades account for all but 3 percent of apprentices. The distribution of women apprentices throughout the 53 major trades continues to be quite different than that of men. In 1975 there were only 8 groupings listed with more than 100 women apprentices: barbers and beauticians, bookbinders and bindery workers, carpenters, typesetters, cooks and bakers, electricians, machinists, and toolmakers and diemakers. Eleven percent of all women apprentices were pre- paring to be barbers or beauticians, the only trade that had more women (496 or 54.5 percent) than men apprentices. Seventeen percent *Executive secretary. Wisconsin Commission on the Status of Women, Madison, Wis. 1 Data rathere~l by the State and National Apprentice System (SNAPS). Telephone conversation with the Bureau of Apprenticeship and Training (BAT), Department of Labor. in Apprenticeship Is a formal on-the-job training program by private industry. usually under labor-management agreement, which requires a minimum of 1 year or 2.000 hours of training and offers established graduated compensaaon. It is carried out by the Bureau of Apprenticeship and Training (BAT), Department of Labor. (225) PAGENO="0234" 226 of all bookbinders and bindery workers were women, 9.7 percent of all typesetters, 7.9 percent of all medical and dental technicians 5.9 per- cent of all cooks and bakers, 5.6 percent of all electronic technicians, 5.3 percent of all industrial technicians, and 4.2 percent of all optical workers. Of the remaining major trades, there was more than 1 woman out of every 100 apprentices only among aircraft me- chanics, butchers and meatcutters, cabinetmakers and milirnen, drafts- men, linemen (light and power), lithographers and photoengravers, office machine servicemen,2 painters, patternma.kers, printing and pub- lishing workers, and taping and dry-wall installers. Only thirty-six hundredths of 1 percent (0.36) of all construction trades apprentices were women. In 1973, the first year in which the State-National Apprenticeship Reporting System was in operation, 2,378 women were counted, slightly less than 1 percent of that year's 243~956 registered appren- tices. There were at that time significantly smaller numbers of women apprentices registered as barbers and beauticians, bindery workers, meatcutters, carpenters, cooks and bakers, linemen (light and power), machinists, medical and dental technicians, office machine servicemen, painters, pipefitters, printing and publishing workers, and tool and diemakers. There were, however, larger munbers of women registered as auto and related mechanics, bricklayers, cabinetmakers, electricians, industrial technicians, insulation workers, lithographers, mechanics and repairmen, plumbers and roofers than in 1975. In 19Th women comprised thirty-five hundredths of 1 percent (0.35) of all construc- tion trades apprentices. III. Excr~usio~ OF WOMEN FROM APPRENTICESHIP For the first 60 years of this century there was virtually unanimous acceptance of the fact that the skilled trades and the apprenticeship training that led to journeyperson status was a "male only" preserve. With the exception of one occupation-that of beautician-almost all employers, journeymen, apprentices and related training classroom instructors were men. Since the first State passed a law in 1911 man- dating the registration of all apprentice contracts, and Congress pa.ssed the National Apprenticeship Act in 1937, all but a handful of the Government-employed apprentice representatives were men, fre- quently men who themselves had been trained for a trade through apprenticeship. It has been common knowledge among blue-collar level individuals that workers in the skilled trades commanded good wages. Though this was somewhat mortifying to many who spent a great. deal of time and money obtaining college degrees as a passport to the good life, they were able to comfort themselves with the fact that their degrees con- ferred on them a higher status, even if no higher earning ability. The fact is that for high school graduates who did not have the financial resources to continue their education in the classroom, apprenticeship 2 Despite the fact that the [IS. Bureau of the Census modified titles in its occupational classification system in 1973 to remove sex-stereotyped occupational titles, as of October 1W1G the Bureau of Apprenticeihip and Training (BAT) was still using tho old ~px:1iulctl terminology. Nine of the fifty-three trades were listed as men of one kind or another in reports generated by the State-National Apprentice Reporting System even thouch other BAT publications had converted to sex-neutral terminology (for example, cabinetmaker- machinist, wood; drafter; line installer-repairer; o~ce-machines mechanic). PAGENO="0235" 227 training in a trade was a bargain. It offered an unparalleled oppor- tunity to learn while earning a wage, and at the end of the 2- to 5-year learning period, to be publicly recognized as having a valuable-if relative low status-skill that would `be rewarded with wages sufficient to keep a family at a satisfactory standard of living. The extraordi- nary value of a completed apprenticeship is attested to by: (1) the large numbers of hopefuls on the waiting lists for openings; (2) the stories, some no doubt apocryphal, that the only way to get into a certain trade in a given city was to be the son of a journeyman already in it; and (3) until the affirmative action push of the past 12 years, the almost complete absence of minorities from the skilled trades. The reawakening of the women's movement in the late 1960's re-cre- ated an awareness of the large-and rising-numbers of women who headed families and who needed to become adequate breadwinners. It was also the time when growing numbers of feminists were looking about with new vision and exclaiming in shock at the stratification and. segregation of society by sex. One of them, inevitably, turned her eyes toward the blue-collar workers. In 1970 the Manpower Administration funded a very modest re- search and demonstration project, Women in Wisconsin Apprentice- ships. Its goal was to isolate, analyze, and minimize the barriers to women's entry into the skilled trades via apprenticeship. Some of the project's findings, as summarized in the subsequent Manpower Research Monograph No. 33, "Women in Apprenticeship- Why Not?" ~ were unsurprising: that since the world of the skilled trades was populated entirely by niales it simply did not occur to most women, girls, or their counselors that they should seek to enter it. One survey of 78 establishments that trained Wisconsin State-registered apprentices discovered not only that all of the current apprentices were male, but that in the memory of everyone concerned, only two women had ever applied for an apprenticeship and both of these had been turned down. The survey showed that perceptions of women as workers disadvan- taged them: almost half the respondents in all-male establishments thought that women were not as satisfactory in production work as men; over a quarter of all respondents felt there were sonic jobs in their plant that no woman could ppssibly do; over three-quarters felt there were some skilled trades particularly suited to women-most fre- quently mentioned were sewing, upholstery, interior decorating and drafting-while two-thirds said they would hesitate to consider a woman for some apprenticeable trades. Over half explained that their reluctance was due to the "unsuitable" working conditions of the trade: the work involved long hours, was "dirty" or "heavy." The irony of the situation was that side by side with the deepl.y held chivalrous notions of the respondents that precluded their seriously considering women for apprenticeship skill-training opportunities, the same survey found that 34 of the 78 establishments employed women on the shop floor doing unskilled work under precisely those "unsuitable" working conditions. Thirty-two percent of the establish- ments had women doing "dirty" work, 41 percent "noisy," 47 percent "messy," 47 percent had women working irregular hours. These women Norma Briggs, `Women in Apprenticeship-why Not?" Manpower Research Monograph No. 33 (washington, D.C. 11.5. Department of Labor, 1974). PAGENO="0236" 228 were invisible, however, since the following proportions of respondents from the all-male shops in the same towns did not know that women anywhere did dirty work (46 percent), worked under noisy conditions (41 percent), did messy work (38 percent), or worked irregular hours (29 percent). Women were not perceived as "skilled" workers. Though all the establishments reported some male employees doing skilled work, only one-tenth reported employing women in a skilled capacity. When ques- tioned in detail, however, 50 percent of the establishments that had women on the shop floor employed them in jobs requiring mechanical aptitude, 38 percent employed them in work requiring technical abil- ity, and 18 percent used women in jobs that demanded mechanical skill and experience. Once again re.spondents from the all-male shops in the same communities demonstrated the invisibility of fa.cts when they controvert the popular wisdom, for 44 percent of them did not know of women anywhere who performed work that required meclia.nica.l apti- tude, 37 percent knew of no women doing work that required techni- cal ability, and 42 percent were ignorant of any woman doing a. job that called for mechanical skill a.nd experience. The misconception that commonly held stereotypes coincided with fact was not limited to employers and apprentice supervisors. The proj ect found evidence throughout the skilled-trade training hierarchy that: Newspapers commonly divided help wanted classified advertise- ments into separate male and female columns; employment service staff-for convenience-put cards recording employment openings into different boxes according to skilled or unskilled and male or female; schools steered non-college-bound boys into industrial arts classes and non-college-bound girls into home economics or typing classes; even manpower training programs. which had the express aim of helping families get off welfare, continued to develop dead- end traditional women's jobs for single women heads of households that paid them less than their welfare check entitled them to; at the same time, men, even without families to support, were placed in jobs with better base pay and more chance for future mobility. IV. "WOMEN'S WORK": UNDERRATED, So NOT APPRENTICEABLE Some of the other findings of t.he Women in Wisconsin Apprentice- ships project were quite unexpected and have yet to be acted upon. One discovery was that the two-volume Department of Labor publi- cation, "The Dictionary of Occupational Titles" (DOT) was not a.s reliable as might be expected. It described the workplace and jobs of different complexity about as accurately as the famous New Yorker's map of the United States, in which the South, Midwest, and West are depicted as being so small and unimportant that New York City and State dominate the page. In the case of the DOT, it is jobs which develop from homemaking and parent skills that are treated as being unimportant; occupational areas which are over- whelmingly female, such as office and derical work, are classified in the same negative manner. Ratings in the DOT classify the jobs of restroom attendant, newspaper carrier. and parking lot attendant as being comparable in complexity and level of skills as those of nurs- ery school teacher, practical nurse, foster parent, or houseparent in PAGENO="0237" 229 a government institution. Dog trainer and hotel clerk are rated as far more responsible and complex than any of the above four jobs mentioned-even more skilled than a general duty `hospital nurse. One of the practical effects of this underrating of "women's work" is the unrealistic automatic limitation set on training periods which are reimbursable under federally funded employment programs. For at least the last half-dozen years a formula to compute appropriate length of time needed for on-the-job training for any rated jobs has been set by a "DOT code conversion chart." The principle is simple- the lower the complexity of the job, the less time needed to train for it. According to this conversion chart, a person off the street should be able to be fully trained and qualified to function as a nursery school teacher with 4 weeks of on-the-job training. According to Department of Labor policy, all Comprehensive Employment and Training Act (CETA) prime sponsors offering on-the-job training are limited to the period of time indicated by the DOT conversion chart. Another practical effect of the underrating of many traditional women's jobs is virtually to exclude them from consideration for apprenticeship. Government apprentice officials who are responsible for registration and approval of apprentice training programs argue. reasonably, that they cannot approve jobs classified as requiring few or no skills as eligible for a system that requires a minimum of 1 year or 2,000 hours of on-the-job training. Another somewhat unexpected situation that still needs to be acted upon decisively is the following. Although there are large numbers of skilled and paraprofessional jobs that fit criteria for apprentice- ship,4 with one or maybe two outstanding exceptions, all trades that have been recognized and approved for formal apprenticeships have been in "traditionally male" occupations. Traditionally female occu- pations have been overlooked and neglected for apprenticeship. This is despite the fact that in some-practical nursing, for example- there have been jobs for the already trained going begging, while there have been women on long waiting lists for trainee slots in insti- tutions offering formal classroom teaching that the potential trainees can ill-afford. When one considers the rapidly rising numbers of women heading households and of displaced homemakers, it makes eminent sense for government enthusiastically to sponsor apprenticeship programs in which these women can learn new skills or sharpen old ones so that they can be paid at the skilled level. The women in Wisconsin apprenticeships project demonstrated what could be done along these lines with the occupation of day care teacher. Day care in 1971 was a rapidly expanding industry, with most centers operating on a shoestring while expecting a massive influx of Federal funds. Industry aims were generally high; the larger centers were administered by idealistic child development specialists who had no intention of simply running babysitting services, but 29 CFR, pt. 29-4 (as proposed Oct. 19, 1976) defines an apprenticeable occupation as a skilled trade which possesses all the following: (a) It is customarily learned in a prac- tical way through a structured, systematic program of on-the-job supervised training. (b) It is clearly identified and commonly recognized throughout an industry. (c) It involves manual, mechanical, or technical skills and knowledge which require a minimum of 2,000 hours of on-the-job work experience. (d) It requires related instruction to supplement the on-the-job training. PAGENO="0238" 230 whose budgets precluded them from competing for university-trained professional teachers. Those that received Federal funding were en- couraged to hire parents and develop competency-based career ladders. Many centers were struggling to provide extensive in-service training programs on their own. As a service industry, day care was caught in society's conflicting values; deep concern for high-quality coin- prehensive child care, with a concomitant unwillingness to provide adequate funds. Consequently, day care centers could not afford ap- prenticeship's financial obligations-the payment of periodic salary increments and of wages to both apprentices and substitute workers during related instruction classes. In this Wisconsin project, program startup funds were given to employers by the Federal Government through its "jobs optional" pro- grain for training and upgrading disadvantaged employees; assur- ances of relevant related instruction were provided by the vocational, technicaL and adult education system.5 These incentives more than off- set skepticism at becoming involved in an experiment as i.mfamiliar as apprenticeship, with its strange terminology and association (in some employers' minds) with union control. There were, inevitably, some program setbacks and surprises-and some innovative responses to unprecedented situations. The experienced practitioners in an occu- pation new to apprenticeship had little experience in passing on their skills in an on-the-job situation and none in coordinating their work training with the theoretical material given weekly to the apprentices by the technical school instructors from the newly devised curriculum. A pilot "journeyperson upgrade" program was sponsored so that those who found themselves in an entirely new role as on-t*he-j oh trainers of apprentices were able to improve the quality of their contribution by becoming familiar with the. overall program and its interlocking parts. By June 1973, over 100 people had been registered as da.y care apprentices and 10 had successfully completed the prOgTam. The project recommended that the Federal Government provide funding to set up similar programs involving trainees, industry, and Government representatives in this and other occupations in other States. it suggested that health related occupations would be a good place to start. Certainly health facility administrators, caught in the squeeze between meeting Federal standards of accreditation and keep- ing down costs, are eager to explore ways of capitalizing on the skills already informally developed by their staff. They are interested in gaining recognition for their inservice training programs and obtain- ing subsidized help from local vocational-technical schools. V. SOME RECOMMENDATIOXS Other recommendations made by the women in Wisconsin appren- ticeship project were: 1. That government should make participation in registered, newly established programs attractive to participants through tax credits or reductions to employers. Registration of programs makes feasible both quality control and compliance with equa.l employment oppor- tunity guidelines. One other highly successful incentive for the regis- In Wisconsin, related Instruction classes must be provided by the vocational, technical. and adult education system at almost no cost to apprentices or their employers if they are in a State-registered apprenticeship program. PAGENO="0239" 231 tration of apprenticeship programs has been the payment of a stipend to veterans who are in registered apprenticeship and training pro- grams. In order to receive his stipend, the veteran makes sure the pro- gram he enters is registered. In 1975, 351/2 percent of all apprentices registered were receiving veterans' stipends. 2. That apprenticeship outreach programs be established for women modeled along the lines of those established for minority males. Since 1967, increasing numbers of apprenticeship outreach programs had been funded by the Department of Labor under the Manpower De- velopment and Training Act. In `the 5 fiscal years from 1970 through 1974, contracts totaling $45.88 million were let for their operation with price sponsors such as the Urban League (which operates outreach programs under the name of LEAP-labor education `advancement program), the recruitment and training program (an outgrowth of the workers defense league outreach program), the Human Re- sources Development Institute (`a creation of the AFL-CIO) and individual Building Trades Councils. In February 1975, there were apprenticeship outreach programs in 105 locations in the United States disseminating information on how to enter apprenticeable trades to potential recruits, and tutoring `and counseling minority males who needed these services in `order to qualify and gain admis- sion to apprentice'ships. From 1967 through 1973, the apprenticeship outreach programs were reported as having assisted in inden'turing 25,815 minority individuals-almost all of whom were men. 3. That affirmative action for women be included in the equal em- ployment opportunity in apprenticeship `and training `order, Title 29 CFR (Code of Federal Regulation), part 30, as part `of an inte- grated, across-the-board governmental thrust to eliminate the stereo- typing of occupations by sex and to encourage both men and women to consider the full range of jobs. That the direction of this thrust should not only be outward, through the impact of Labor Department policies in `administering training programs, but also inward. That there should be affirmative action for women employees, specifically in apprenticeship agencies. 4. That, as part of this thrust to eliminate occupational sex-stereo- typing, there should be a concerted effort to influence guidance coun- selors and the educational system in general to reexamine those prac- tices within the system which have contributed toward the persistence of sex-stereotypes. That current career and vocational materials should be revised, new materials developed and a film or films pro- duced for the purpose of showing high school students that women can `and are working successfully in traditional male skilled occii- pations. Finally, it was observed that the real facts of the world of work, labor force participation, pattern of life expectancies `and occupa- tional needs `and trends should be communicated to the schools so that it would be possible for youngsters to plan and prepare for careers realistically. VI. MODEST PROGRESS There has been progress since 1970, though it has been small. In 1970 there were two women `apprenticeship `and training representatives- ATR's-in the Department of Labor, Bureau of Apprenticeship and Training. Within the past year 9 additional trainees were recruited PAGENO="0240" 232 for a 1976 total of 14. (There is a total of 240 male ATR's.) In 1971, "Better Jobs for Women," a pilot recruitment and placement program for women, began in Denver, Cob., using funds supplied by the U.S. Department of Labor's Office of National Programs. Since then, the program has recruited some 400 women, primarily heads of house- holds, for training in nontraditional occupations. Apprenticeship sta- tistics do not, however, include most of them, since many are in non- registered programs or in nonapprenticeable occupations. In 1974, the Manpower Administration amended its apprenticeship outreach pro- gram to include special emphasis on recruiting, counseling and tutor- ing women for apprenticeships in six selected cities. By 1976, similar efforts were underway in a total of 27 cities. A study of these. outreach programs for women by the Civil Rights Commission (1974) con- cluded that they had "produced modest results" only. This it attrib- uted to "inherent limitations": the Commission estimated that ap- proximately one-half of all those admitted to craft unions were white males admitted directly, without having served an apprenticeship; it found no women or minorities admitted directly in this manner. Other factors limiting the impact of outreach programs for women were lack of cooperation on the part of some joint apprenticeship committees, the continued lack of inclusion of goals and timetables for women in the equal employment opportunity order governing apprenticeship, and high unemployment. As of August 12, 1976, after some years of increasing pressure from women's groups, the Department of Labor published an interpreta- tion of its 1971 Equal Employment Opportunity in apprenticeship and training order. It states that "Each program sponsor shall anaylze the availability of female applicants for its program and shall suggest appropriate goals for the year 1977 for women * the contem- plated goal shall preserve the integrity of the minority goals and time- table provided in title 29 CFR, part 30, as amended April 8, 1971." This is a step in the right direction, but the regulations are still in- consistent with their stated scope and purpose. Specifically, the pro- visions relating to "affirmative action plans" (sec. 30.4), including outreach efforts, goals and timetables; the "selection of apprentices" (sec. 30.5) ; and "existing lists of eligibles and public notice" (sec 30.6), should be revised to include women. The International Women's Year Con'imission in its June 1976 report, "~ * To Form a More Perfect Union," also recommends that sec. 30.4(c) (9), which calls for "ad- mitting to apprenticeship persons whose age exceeds the maximum age for admission t.o the progra.m, where such action is necessary to assist the sponsor in achieving its affirmative action obligations," be fully implemented with regard to the admission of women. It is quite clear that when there is not full employment women and minorities suffer unemployment disproportionately. It is also evident that the effectiveness of affirmative action and outreach programs is severely diminished in times of high unemployment. Another fact, less widely known, is that the overall numbers of apprenticeships avail- able decrease during periods of recession. A full employment economy is an essential underpinning to the full utilization of women in the work force. However, full employment in and of itself is not enough. o National Commission on the Observance of International Women's Year. ~ 0 0 To Form a More Perfect Union * * °,~ Justice for American Women" (Washington D.C. Government Printing Office, June 1976). PAGENO="0241" 233 Occupational segregation is the result of the iiiteraction of a complex of our traditional social institutions and does not stem from just the labor market itself. To quote Martha Griffiths: "Underutilization of women will continue to be a problem unless plans are implemented now to expand women's opportunities in technical, trade and industrial apprenticeship programs leading to higher-paying opportunities." What is needed is full employment, vigorous affirmative action efforts, and new initiatives to develop the apprenticeship system itself. ~ "Can We Still Afford Occupational Segregation? Some Remarks," "Women and the Workplace," editors, Martha Blaxall and Barbara Reagan (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1976). O1-6S6-77----16 PAGENO="0242" PAGENO="0243" Part V. KEY FACTORS: TAX TREATMENT AND MEDIA IMAGES (235) PAGENO="0244" PAGENO="0245" FEDERAL INCOME TAX AND SOCIAL SECURITY LAW Br GRACE GANZ BrIUMBERG* CONTENTS Page I. Tax treatment of the two-earner family 237 A. Child care expenses 238 II. Social security system 240 A. A brief description of the social security system 240 B. Six basic problems 241 1. Differential treatment based on sex 241 2. Achieving parity among identically situated families.. 343 3. The dual status of married working women 244 4. Provisions for protecting homeowners 245 C. Basic solution 246 It has long been recognized that a number of Federal income tax and social security provisions are unfair to working women and two- earner families. With a view toward clarifying the issues, this paper will summarize briefly the effect of Federal tax law 1 and will discuss recent developments. Additionally, the paper will describe the major inequities in social security treatment of working women and couples, and will propose a legislative solution to these and other problems presented by our current social insurance system. I. TAX TREATMENT OF THE TWO-EARNER FAMILY There are three major difficulties in our tax treatment of the two- earner family: (1) the so-called marriage penalty, that is, that mar- riage may substantially increase the total tax bill of two wage earners; (2) the fiscal inequity arising from inadequate tax law differentiation between the traditional worker-housewife couple and the emergent two-earner couple; 2 and (3) the work disincentive for a prospective second family earners. Fiscal inequity and work disincentive result froiu failure to credit the traditional couple with imputed housewife income as well as failure to allow the emergent couple a deduction for the additional job-related expenses incurred by the second family earner, such as transportation, lunch, and, until recently in many cases, child care expenses. An additional disincentive for potential second earners arises from our system of aggregating husband-wife *Faculty of Law, State University of New York at Buffalo. 1 The author testified In 1973 before the Joint Economic Committee on the subject of tax law. For a more complete treatment of this subject, see Grace Ganz Blumberg, "Features of Federal Income Tax Law Which Have a Disparate Impact on Women and Working Couples" and `Households and Dependent Care Services: Section 214," in Economic Problems or Women, hearings before U.S. Congress, Joint Economic Committee, 93d Cong., 1st sess. (Washington, D.C. : Government Printing Office, 1973), 228-253. 2 In 1940, less than 15 percent of married women with husbands present were in the labor force. This proportion has been steadily growing, reaching 30 percent in 1960 and 45 percent in 1976. 1975 handbook on Women Workers, bulletin 297 (Washington, D.C.: U.S. Department of Labor, 1975), 17. Also by telephone, U.S. Department of Labor. (237) PAGENO="0246" 238 income, which effectively taxes the second family earner's first taxable dollar at the first earner's highest (marginal) tax rate. This author advocates a three-pronged solution: 2a That we follow the lead of Sweden and return to a system of individual tax treatment of earned income or, alternatively, that we allow married taxpayers the option of individual treatment of earned income, as do England, Norway, Israel, Greece, Argentina, and Venezuela; that we consider the possibility of enacting a second earner's income allowance to reflect the working couple's higher cost of earning income; and that we basi- cally revise our approach to employment-related child care expenses. A. Child Care Expenses CongTess has been somewhat responsive to such suggestions. A major breakthrough has occurred in the 1976 Tax Reform Act treatment of dependent care expenses. Congress has finally rejected the view that employment-necessitated child care expenditure ought to be treated as a personal expense deductible from taxable income only in certam hardship cases, and has instead espoused the idea that such expendi- ture (with reasonable limits)5 should be understood as a cost of earn- ing income properly taken into account in determining tax liability.6 Congress has, therefore, removed the income limitation beyond which taxpayers were formerly unable to claim such expenses. In an effort to make favorable tax treatment available to all who incur this work- related expense, Congress has also changed the allowance from a de- duction available only to those who itemize, mainly middle-income taxpayers, to a 20-percent credit against taxes equally available to all taxpayers. In addition to making the benefit available to those who claim the standard deduction, mainly lower income taxpayers, the use of a credit results in the same tax-saving for all taxpayers spending the same amount for child care. Thus, with a 20 percent tax credit. the maximum credit for one child is $400 (maximum claimable expense is $2,000) and for two or more children $800 (maxiiuum claimable expense is $4~000). In contrast, under prior law, the tax saving result- ing from a deduction was a function of the taxpayer's income: the wealthier the taxpayer, the greater his saving. Congress has also liberalized the provision in other ways that will facilitate women's entry and reentry into the labor force. The deduc- tion was formerly available to married couples only when both spouses worked full time, apparently to deter one spouse from seeking nominal employment in order to claim a substantial deduction.T Such treat- 2a Blumberg, op. cit. Public Law 94-455, sec. 504, creating new Internal Revenue Code see. 44A. For prior law, see Internal Revenue Code of 1954, sec. 2i4, as amended by Public Law 92-i7S, sec. 2i0 (1971). It should be noted that the dependent care provision has, from Its inception in 1934. encompassed employment-necessitated care for dependents other than children. In athil- tion to covering in-home and out-of-home care provided to dependents under the a3e of 13. the 1970 act allows the credit for in-home care provided to a dependent or spouse of the taxpayer "physically or mentally incapable of caring for himself." Sec. 44A(c (1) and (21 (B). Dependent care expenses are. however, mainly claimed for care provided to children, and the provision is generally understood as a "child care" measure. For these reasons, th~ term "child" rather than "dependent" is used. The limits relate both to the amount of expense claimable per dependent ($2000 for 1 dependent, $4,000 for 2 or more dependents) and the extent to which an additional child (dependent) will increase the maximum amount claimable (no increase after 2). With respect to the latter limitation, see discussion in text at note 6 infra. ~U.S. Congress, Senate Committee on Finance, HR. i06i2. S. Rept. 94-938, 94th Cong., 2c1 sess. 132-133 (Washington, D.C. : Government Printing Office, 1976). Ibid. at 133. PAGENO="0247" 239 ment, however, was likely to deter mothers of young children from seeking part-time work by encouraging them to defer any employment until such time, if ever, as they felt able to undertake full-tune em- ployment. A somewhat more indirect effect may have been to discour- age the parents of young children from sharing both economic and child care responsibilities on a part-time basis, since they were unable to claim any child care expenses incurred when they were simultane- ously working. The new provision more narrowly avoids the poten- ti al for taxpayer abuse by limiting claimable expenses to the earn- ings of the spouse with the lesser income. Also of interest to women contemplating eventual return to the labor force is the section allowing child care expenses when one spouse works and the other is a full-time student. To satisfy the provision which disallows expenses in excess of the lower earning spouse's income, a full-time student is deemed to have earned the maximum amount al- lowable for child care expenses. Other reforms will properly reflect the needs and inclinations of lower-income persons, taxpayers belonging to certain ethnic groups, parents favoring group care, and divorced taxpayers. The previous blanket disallowance of child care payments made to certain relatives has been modified to prohibit such claims only when the taxpayer claiming the child care expense or his spouse is entitled to claim the relative as a tax dependent. This change seems desirable because it rec- ognizes that many persons, particularly those belonging to groups hav- ing strong kin networks, do wish to employ relatives for child care and should not be deterred from doing so, both in terms of the child's inter- ests and family solidarity. Another instance in which the parent's freedom of choice has been augmented is the repeal of the distinction between in-home and out-of-home care. The prior provision encour- aged parents of one or two children to choose in-home care because up to $400 per month could be deducted for services provided in the tax- payer's household but only $200 per month (for one child) or $300 (for two children) could be deducted for care provided outside the taxpayer's household. The new provision, appropriately, is neutral in this respect. Divorced persons under prior law, found that neither was eligible for the deduction (the noncustolial parent was entitled to claim the children as tax dependents, that is, the mother had custody and the father made financial contributions sufficient to warrant a tax depend- ency claim). Tinder the new provision, employment-related child care expenses may be claimed by the parent who has dominant custody. Finally, a subtle but significant change is reflected in the new pro- vision. Female labor force participation is, in part, a function of pop- ulation policy. The prior provision, enacted in 1971, contemplated a family of three children, or, more accurately, demonstrated congres- sional willingness to expand the allowance until the family reached a maximum of three children.8 The 1976 provision sets the norm of a two-child family.9 This is, of course, in accord with a "replacement" or "zero growth" population policy.'° To the extent that our laws S with respect to out-of-home care, sec. 214 allowed $200 per month for 1 child, $300 for 2, and $400 for 3 or more. Internal Revenue Code of 1954, sec. 214(c) (2) (B), as amended by Public Law 92-178, sec. 210 (1971). Maximum allowable expenditure, $4,000, Is claimable by a 2-child family. ~° See, generally, note, `Legal Analysis and Population Control: The Problem of Coer- cion," 84 Harvard Law Review 1856 (1971). PAGENO="0248" 240 reflect and encourage this norm, we should expect increasing labor force participation by women. II. SOCIAL SECuRITY SYsmM Reform of the American social security system, some provisions of which have been repeatedly identified as inequitable to working wives and two earner families, has the potential for effecting partial or total solutions to basic and wide ranging social problems. A review of testi- mony given before the Joint Economic Committee in its 1973 hearings on the Economic Problems of Women" indicates that the expert wit- nesses identified the same problems in current social security law. I-low- ever, the solutions proffered, if any, turned on the witnesses' percep- tion of the extent to which changing patterns of American economic and family life, and new approaches to "women's work" make it desir- able to review the underlying premises of our social security system, and to enhance the system's capacity for providing economic security to individuals and families. A. A Brief Description of the Social Security Syste~m The social security system provides monthly benefits to insured workers and, in certain instances, their dependents in a manner de- signed to replace partially income lost on account of death, severe disability or retirement. Payments are made from current contribu- tions which are paid by both employee and employer. The present rate is 5.85 percent from each on annual income up to $15,300. In general, to achieve minimum eligibility for himself and his de- pendents, that is, to to achieve fully insured status, a worker now must have engaged in covered employment one quarter of the time from 1950 or age 21, whichever is later, until he dies, is disabled or reaches retirement age. In addition, to be eligible for disability benefits, a worker must have engaged in covered employment during half the quarters in. the 10-year period immediately preceding disability. As a.n exception to the fully insured rule, survivors' benefits for deceased's dependent children and their surviving parent are available if the deceased wa.ge earner had 6 quarters of coverage during the last 13 quarters before his death. Once basic eligibility is established, the level of payments is com- puted by averaging monthly earnings in covered employment since 1950, after excluding from consideration the lowest 5 years. The f or- inula for calculating benefits favors low-income workers because the insured receives a markedly higher percentage of his first $110 of average monthly earnings than lie does of the rest. The amount payable to an insured worker at retirement age is called the primary insurance amount (PTA). All benefits payable to the insured's dependents are U "Economic Problems of Women," hearings before the ITS. Congress. Joint Economic Committee. 93d Cong.. ist sess. (Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office. i973). The statutory provisions relating to Federal old age, survivors, and disability insurance benefits are codified at 42 U.S.C. 40i et seq. For regulations enacted thereunder. see 20 CFR, pt. 404. Good descriptions of the system are found in Dalmer Hoskins and Lenore E. Bixhy, "Women and Social Security: Law and Policy In Five Countries." U.S. Department of Health, Education, and Welfare. Social Security Administration. Office of Research and Statistics, research report No. 42 at 73-88 (i973), and Robert M. Ball. "The Treatment of Women Under Social Security." Economic Problems of Women. hearings before the U.S. Congress. Joint E'onomie Committee, 93cl Cong., ist sess. (Washington, D.C.; Government Priiiting Office, 1973), 311-313. PAGENO="0249" 241 computed as a percentage of the primary insurance amount. For ex- ample, a dependent spouse's benefit is 50 percent of the insured's PTA and a surviving dependent child's benefit is 75 percent of his deceased parent's PTA. B. Six Basic Problems There are six basic problems in the present scheme, four of which directly involve issues of female labor force participation and two which do not involve such issues, but which should be taken into account when choosing among the various solutions proposed for the first four problems. The difficulties are as follows: § 1. There remain, at this late date, explicitly sex-based social secu- rity provisions which have the effect of giving more family protection to male insured workers than to equally situated female insured workers; § 2. A working couple frequently receives substantially less in monthly retirement benefits than a worker-housewife couple, even though both couples had the same total average monthly earnings and made equal social security contributions; § 3. The married working woman is fully taxed by social security but, because of her simultaneous eligibility as a dependent on her hus- band's account, realizes little or no retirement benefits on her own account; § 4. Benefits generally designed to replace some uniform portion of actual wages do not do so with respect to many employed wives and mothers because of the practice .of determining the insured's average monthly wage upon which benefits are based by averaging earnings for all 12 but the lowest five; § 5. Our social security system does not protect families aeainst the loss of imputed service income caused by the death or disability of the stay-at-home spouse who cares for the insured worker's dependent children; and ~ 6. Although some limited dependency provision has been made, divorce leaves many housewives entirely without retirement income. 1. DIFFERENTIAL TREATMENT BASED ON SEX The act, on its face, make a number of significant gender-based distinctions which have the effect of giving more family protection to male insured workers than to equally situated female workers. A widow, but not a widower, may claim "mother's" benefits when she cares for a dependent child of a deceased insured worker and her earned income does not exceed a certain level.13 The U.S. Su- preme Court declared this gender distinction unconstitutional in TVeinberger v. T4Tiesenfeld.14 TTTiesenfeici, read together with the Sn- l)reme Court's decision in Frontiero v. Richardson,'5 suggests that the remaming sex-based provisions are equally unconstitutional. A surviving divorced mother who cares for decedent insured's de- pendent child is eligible for "mother's" benefits, but a surviving divorced father who cares lor a child of the deceased insured mother is ~ The years for which earnings are averaged include those since 1950 or the insured's 2l~t birthday, whichever is later, after eliminating the 5 years of lowest earnings. 42 u.s.c. § 415(b) (1974). 1342 USC 402(g) (1974). 14420 U.S. 636 (1975). `~ 411 U.S. 677 (i973). PAGENO="0250" 242 not eligible for this caretaker's benefit.16 Similarly, a divorced woman who was married to an insured worker for more than 20 years is treated, for the purpose of claiming derivative benefits, as the insured's wife or widow while an identically situated divorced man is not eligible to claim such derivative benefits on his former wife's account.17 The rationale of Wiesenfeld would seem equally applicable to these sex- based distinctions: it is constitutionally impermissible to require equal contribution from women workers and then refuse them equal economic protection for their families.~s Analogous, but not identical. are the provisions which grant. widow's benefits to the. aged or disabled widow of a fully insured worker with- out an showing that the widow was actually economically dependent 19 upon decedent, but al]ow derivative benefits to a widower only if he can show that he received at least one-half his support from his deceased insured wife.2° Similarly, a wife, without any showing of actual de- penclency, may claim derivative benefits when her insured husband retires or is disabled,2' but a husband must establish that he was eco- nomically dependent upon his insured wife in order to claim derivative "husband's insurance benefits." 22 Unlike the absolute exclusion of fathers in Wiesenfe7cl, the widower's and husband's provisions allow for a showing of actual dependency. In view of the male claimant's opportunity to establish actual dependency, the conclusive pre&imp- t.ion of female dependency is. arguably. only an overly generous and hence harmless defect. The Supreme Court has, however, disapproved an identical sex- based presumption of dependency in a. context which. although dif- ferent, seems conceptually indistinguishable. In Frontie'ro v. Rick ard- son,23 the Air Force paid its married employees substantial depend- cuts' benefits, presuming dependency with respect to the spouses of male employees, but requiring a. showing of actual dependency for the spouses of female employees. The Court disapproved the use of this sexually differential standard in the distribution of benefits that. were intended as a form of compensation for services rendered. While. the Court did not dispute that, in the generality of cases, women are more likely to be economically dependent upon men than men upon women, the Court found this generalization and the administrative conveni- ence resulting therefrom inadequate to support a distinction that has the effect of making a woman's employment effort less economically productive than that of a similarly situated male. The only distinction between the challenged provisions in Fi~on- hero and those in the Social Security Act would seem to be that the former involved direct compensation for employment while social security is, at least in part, a redistrihutive economic scheme which. arguably. should tolerate a greater number of broad-based generali- zations. Such nn argument was, however, made by the Government ~ See 42 U.S.C. 402(g) (1) and 410(d) (3) (1974). 17S~42TJ.5.C. 402 (b)(1) and (e)(l),and4lG(cl) (1) and (2). ~ 420 U.S. at G4~. ~ Dependency is established by a showing that the claimant was receiving at least one- half his/her support from the insured wage earner. 42 U.S.C. 402 (f) (1) (D). (c) (1) (C). `° Compare 42 U.S.C. 402(e), widow's insurance benefits. with 42 U.S.C. 402(f). widower's insurance benefits. See particularly sec. 402(f) (1) (D). There is also a gender distinction with respect to the effect of remarriage. Compare sec. 402(e) (1) (A) with sec. 402(fl (1) (A). "42 U.S.C. 402(b) (1). "42 U.S.C. 402(c) (1) (C). "4i1 U.S. 077 (1973). PAGENO="0251" 243 in TViesenfeld, and was rejected by the Supreme Court as an made- quate justification for gender-based distinctions which determine issues of basic social security eligibility.24 [Since this paper was prepared for publication, the Supreme Court has in- validated the dependency provisions for both husband's and widower's deriva- tive benefits. The Court reasoned that "Wiesenf aid thus inescapably compels the conclusion . . . that the gender-based differentiation . . . that results in the efforts of female workers required to pay social security taxes producing less protection for their spouses than is produced by men-is forbidden by the Con- stitution, at least when supported by no more substantial justification than "archaic and overbroad" generalizations . . . or "old-notions" . . . such as "as- sumptions as to dependency" . . . that are more consistent with "the role-typing society has long imposed . . . than with contemporary reality." Calif ano V. Goldfa'rb, 97 SOt. 1021, 1026-27 (1977). Golclfarb invalidated the dependency requirement for widowers. The same requirement for husband's derivative benefits was disapproved in Calif ano v. $ilbowitz and Califano V. Jablon, 97 SOt. 1539 (1977), affirmed without opinion.] 24a In view of the patent unconstitutionality 25 of these gender-based distinctions, it seems unnecessary to repeat the policy arguments that have been made elsewhere 26 in favor of their repeal. Suffice it to say that the cost of repeal is low because widowers and divorced men will claim such benefits only when they are not themselves covered by social security, or in the very rare event that they are covered l)ut can more profitably claim on their deceased wife's account than on their own. 2. ACHIEVING PARITY AMONG 11)ENTICALLY SiTUATED FAMILIES It has been noted that a low or low-middle income working couple often receives lower retirement benefits than a family in which the sole breadwinner earned the total income of the working couple and macIc the. same contributions to the system. For example, where only one spouse worked and had average yearly earnings of $9,000, under the 1973 tables,27 the benefit payable to the spouse wou]d be $393.50 with ~` 420 U.S. at 646-647. With respect to the factors that may permissibly be taken into account in determining the exact amount of benefits (the redistributive aspect of the scheme). consider Gruenwald v. Gardner, 390 F. 2d 591 (2d Cir. 1968). certiorari denied 393 U.S. 982 (1968), cited approvingly in Frontiero V. Richardson, 411 U.S. 677, 689 note 22. 24a \\`jth these cases, compare Califano v. Webster, 97 5. Ct. 1192 (1977), sustainIng a gender-based distinction in the computation of benefits of those workers who reached age 32 before 1972. This provision, which excludes from consideration additional low earning years of women workers, results in greater benefits for women than for men with the same earnings record. The court sustained this differential treatment on the ground that it was designed to compensate for past employment discrimination against women, ibid. at 1195. This result is consistent with the Court's decisions in Schlesinger v. Ballard, 419 U.S. 498 (1975) and Kahn V. Shevin, 416 U.S. 351 (1974). In both cases the Court sus- tained gender-based distinctions that ostensibly favored women and had a benign, com- pensatory purpose. See also Gruenwald v. Gardner, discussed in note 24. Webster has no bearing on the gender-based distinctions discussed in the text, all of which tend to afford less protection for female workers and their families than for similarly situated male workers and their families. The gender-based dependency distinctions have been successfully challenged in 5 reported district court cases: Moss v. Secretary of HEW, 408 F. Supp. 403, 410-411 (M.D. Fla. 1976) Coffin v. Secretary of HEW, 400 F. Supp. 953 (D.D.C. 1975) ,Jablon v. Secre- tory of HEW, 399 F. Supp. 118 (D. Md.) ; Silbowitz v. Secretary of HEW, 397 F. Snpp. 862 (S.D. F1a. 1975) ; and Goldfarb v. Secretary of flEW, 396 F. Supp. 308 (E.D.N.Y. 1975). The Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare has appealed all of these 3-judge district courtdecisions. [Since this paper was prepared for publication, Calif ano v. Silbowit2 and Califano v. Jablon. were affirmed without opinion, 97 S. Ct. 1539 (1977). See text addendum immedi- ately above.] 22 See, for example, Ball, supra note 11 at 314-316. nThese computations are based on the table found at 42 U.S.C. 415 (1974), which mncorporates the increases effected by the 1973 amendments, Public Law 93-233, sec. 2(a). The primary insurance amounts found therein have been subject to across-the board increases based on specified increases in the Consumer Price Index, 42 U.S.C. 415(i) PAGENO="0252" 244 an additional $196.75 as a. dependency allowance 2S for the wife, yield- ing total monthly benefits of $590.25. In contrast, if one spouse had average yearly earnings of ~6,000 and the other had average earnings of $3,000, they would receive $299.40 and $194.10.~~ for a total of $493.50. There would seem to be no justification for distinguishing be- tween these two couples in a social insurance system to which each family has made equal financial contribution and in which the goal is replacement of family income lost by retirement. To achieve parity, working couples should, for the purpose of determining benefits, be allowed to cumulate earnings up to the maximum taxable wage base. A limited provision to this effect was passed by the House of Repre- tentatives in 1971 but was abandoned in conference,3° presumably be- cause execution of the parity measure would have created aciministra- tive difficulties and entailed payment of additional benefits. Such objections, however, seem inadequately responsive to the basic unfair- ness. In any event, the panacea which the author will suggest shortly would obviate the need for such an equity provision. 3. TI-JR DUAL STATUS OF MARRIED WORKING WOMEN The problem of inequality with respect to retirement benefits p~ic1 to equally contributing one- and two-earner couples has its mirror image in the problem of unequal contributions exacted from middle- and upper-income one- and two-earner couples. Thus, for example. if a husband earns the. maximum taxable base income,3' now $15,300. and his wife earns less than one-third of that. say $4.500 a. year. they will contribute a total of 5.85 percent of all their income but collect no more retirement benefits than the family in which one spouse earns their total income of $19~800 but contributes 5.85 percent of only his maxi- mum tax base of $15,300. if the workimr wife were to earn more than one-third her husband's average earnings, the couple would receive some incremental payment, but the size of the difference would hardly be reflective of the wife's contribution record.32 These apparent inequities arise from the second working spouse's dual status under our social security system. For purposes of contribu- tions, this second spouse is treated as a sole earner and taxed on every dollar of income up to the maximum taxable base. Adult benefits are not, however, claimable only on the basis of personal contribution. De- rivative spouse's benefits can also be claimed on the ground of marital relationship to an insured worker. Thus, although married women are fully taxed by social security, they realize little or no retirement bene- fits on their own accounts (because of their simultaneous eligibility as dependents on their husbands' accounts). The lack of correspond- ence between the payments made by married women and the benefits received by them might be justified as a reclistributive. rather than an insurance aspect of the social security system; nevertheless, it would 28 The wife's derivative benefit Is one-half her husband's primary insurance amount, 42 U.S.C. 402(b) (2). 29 If she were to claim on her husband's account rather than her own, she would, of course, only receive $149.70. See note 28 supra. 30 1972 U.S. Code Congressional and Administrative News 4997, 5372. ~` Pursuant to 42 U.S.C. 409, 430, the maximum taxable base for years after 1974 is $13,200 plus additional amounts necessary to offset the cost-of-living increases provided to beneficiaries. For 1976, maxImum taxable earnings are $15,300. 32 See, for example, information supplied by the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare in "Economic Problems of Women," hearings before the Joint Economic Con1mittee, 93d Cong., 1st sess., 423 (1973). ~ See comment of Arthur Hess, ibid. at 424. PAGENO="0253" 245 seem to be a most regressive ~ redistribution to tax a group subject to pervasive employment discriinmation in order to maximize paynients made on the accounts of persons who ale not subject to such discriini- nation and, are, arguably, the beneficiaries of sex-based employment discrimination. More reasonably, it has been suggested that it is erroneous to look at retirement benefits alone,35 although such benefits do form the pre- ponderant payout of the system.36 The married woman is more corn- preliensively insured on her own account than she is as her husband's dependent. She is insured against her own disability, and can provide for survivors and dependents from her account. This argument is per- suasive as far as it goes. It suggests, however, that the married wom- an's contributions should be reduced to reflect tile coverage she is actually purchasing. A more extreme solution has been adopted in Great Britain. A married working woman may opt out of tile system. She makes 110 contributions and collects only on her husband's account. Most working women elect this option.37 Complete withdrawal, however, has obvious disadvantages. In the event of tile wife's death or disability, the family receives no replace- ment income. In the event of divorce, the wife has no account of her own upon which to build an adequate earnings record. While some of the defects of complete withdrawal can be removed by a more care- fully tailored approach, the contingency of divorce 38 makes it desir- able that each married woman have complete individual coverage. Ad- ditionally, the concept of treating even the working wife simply as her husband's economic dependent runs counter to the trend in favor of encouraging economic self-sufficiency in married women.39 4. PROVISIONS FOIl PROTECTING HOMEOWNERS The last three deficiencies of our social security provisions can con- veniently be discussed together. The first two relate to the inability of ~ Assessed contribution to social security is, of course, generally regressive In that the tax is a fixed percentage of wages and there is a ceiling on the amount of wages subject to taxation. Thus, a low-Income earner pays a higher percentage of total earned income than does a high-income earner. Carolyn Shaw Bell has pointed out that women disproportion- ately bear the burden of this general regressivity because very few women earn more than the `social security base income. "Women and Social Security: Contributions and Benefits," In "Economic Problems of Women," hearings before the Joint Economic Committee, 93d Cong., ist sess., 303 (1973). Ball, "The Treatment of Women Under Social Security," Economic Problems of Wromen, supra note 34 at 315. ~ See colloquy of Mr. Ball and Representative Barber B. Conable, Jr., Economic Prob- lems of Women, supra note 34 at 323. ~ Hoskins and Bixby, supra note ii at 53-55, 62. ~ For the years 1972-74, the number of divorces in the United States (907,000) was more than half the number of first marriages (1,662,000). "A Statistical Portrait of Women in the United States," U.S. Department of Commerce, Bureau of the Census, special studies series P-23. No. 58 at 16 (Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office, 1976), citing Bureau of the Census current population reports, series P-20, Nos. 212 and 225, and U.S. Department of Health, Education, and Welfare. "Vital Statistics Reports." This does not mean, of course, that more than half of all first marriages for the 1972-74 perIod will terminate In divorce, because the divorces obtained during that period generally termi- nated marriages contracted earlier. Comparative divorce figures are measured in terms of rate per 1,000 population. In 1974, the U.S. rate was 4.6 per 1,000 populatIon, compared to 1.5 for West Germany, 2.1 for England and Wales, and 3.3 for Sweden. "United Nations Statistical Yearbook, 1975," (New York City: United Nations Statistical Office, 1976), pp. 79-82. ° It is not merely that married women face a substantial probability of divorce but that, once divorced, they are Increasingly expected to provide for themselves. Concerning the infrequency with which the courts award alimony, see studies collected in Caleb Foote. Robert I. Levy, and Frank E. A. Sander, "Cases and Materials on Family Law" at 838-845 2d edition (Boston, Mass.: Little, Brown & Co., 1976). With respect to current legislative expectations and guidelines for alimony awards, see, for example, see. 308 of the Uniform Marriage and Divorce Act, National Conference of Commissioners on Uniform State Laws (1974) and sec. 236 of the New York domestic relations law. PAGENO="0254" 246 our present system to meet the retirement needs of many women, both those employed outside the home and those employed exclusively in the home. With respect to gainfully employed working wives and mothers, determining benefits by averaging earnings for all years but the lowest 5 40 tends to give married working women disproportion- ately low replacement of actual income, because they are likely to have been absent from the work force for more than 5 years in order to per- form child rearing and housekeeping functions.4' To the extent that child rearing is perceived as a valuable social function, time so devoted should not serve to depress a working woman's benefits. Some countries have responded to this concern by treating work force absence due to pregnancy and child rearing as covered employment and crediting the married woman's account with some ascribed earnings.42 The remaining two problems are, strictly speaking, beyond the scope of this article because they concern difficulties encountered by women who are not gainfully employed outside the home, and by the families of such women. These problems are included, however, because they should be taken into account when weighing the desirability of funda- mentally overhauling our approach to individual and family social insurance protection. First, a wife's dependency status is, in many cases,43 terminated by divorce. While this effect of divorce is of rela- tively limited concern to the working wife with a. good earnings rec- ord, many older housewives are left entirely without retirement in- come, and younger housewives are left without any basis for building au adequate average earnings record. Second. when a full-time home- maker dies or is severely disabled, the family loses her imputed service income, but does not receive any social security replacement income because the value of her services is not taken into account by the system.44 0. Basic Solution The basic solution to aI.l these problems was suggested by Prof. Carolyn Shaw Bell in her testimony before the ,Joint Economic Com- mittee in 1973: Abolish the very notion of dependency and treat all housewives (housespouses) as earners, ascribing hypothetical dollar earnings to their account for all quarters of household employment.45 Former Representative Martha Griffiths very cogently asked who would pay for their coverage.40 While extension of coverage to house- wives would have the desirable effect of recognizing the economic value 40 Supra note 12. 41 See, generally Ball, supra note ii at SiG-317. xote also Ball's discussion of the sexually disparate effect of the disability insurance requirement that one must have worked 5 years out of the 10 immediately preceding the onset of disability. ~ See, for example, Hoskins and Bixby, supra note ii at 22, regarding West Germanys attribution of hypothetical earnings for periods of nonemployment due to maternity. See also discussion of the French system of pension coverage for the housewife. ibid., at 46-47. While pronatalist concerns would seem to underlie the French and German provisions. such measures are also appropriate simply as recognition that procreation and child rear- ing (albeit at no more than "replacement" level) are socially necessary functions. ~` A divorced wife is eligible for "mother's" benefits if she has in her care a child of insured decedent who is entitled to "children's" benefits. 42 1~T.S.C. 402(g). 416(d) (3~. Otherwise a divorced wife is eligible for benefits on her ox-husbands account only if their marriage lasted at least 20 years. 42 u.s~c. 416(d) (1) and (2). "It does not seem an adequate response to say that this is simply an event arainet which the system does not insure. When a working wIfe or mother is severely disabled or dies, social security replacement income purchases household and child care services just as her wages probably did during her period of gainful employment. To the extent, there- fore, that working wives' wages do purchase household and child care services, the social security system insures against loss of these vital services for the families of wage earning wives and mothers. ~ Bell, supra note 34 at 305-307. "Ibid. at 321. PAGENO="0255" 247 of housework, would not working women, already burdened, be paying for their stay-at-home sisters? ~ Professor Bell's basic idea is sound. However, it would not be equi- table, in a system that basically purports to be a social insurance plan, to recognize the value of services performed in the home by requiring all the gainfully employed to make contributions on behalf of house- wives. It would be appropriate, however, to require contribution from the households directly benefited by receipt of household service in- come. One approach is to apportion the earnings of the sole earner be- tween two accounts, one for the wage earner and one for the house- spouse. Hypothetical earnings, for example, full-time employment at the minimum wage 48 but no more than one-half the wage earner's total earnings, could be attributed to the housespouse's account and the remainder to the gainfully employed spouse's account. It might be desirable to raise the maximum taxable base for such families in recognition of the imputed income the family receives in the form of full-time housekeeper services. An alternative solution, easier to ad- minister and more profoundly reflective of the view that marriage is an economic partnership,49 would apportion equally between husband and wife all of a spouse's contributions based on wages.5° In terms of cost, neither proposal should present any insuperable problems.51 Apportionment, whether partial or complete, of a spouse's earn- ings is recommended because it would solve a number of otherwise seemingly intractable problems. Such a plan is consistent with the basic social security principle that beneficiaries should largely pay their own way; it also reflects social fact and belief, increasingly expressed in our laws as well, that is, that each spouse has an interest in all income ~ Ibid. 40 Minimum wage is the basis for establishing the contribution level in French pension coverage for the housewife. Contribution Is then made by the government rather than from apportionment of the husband's contribution, as suggested here. Hoskins and Bixby, supra note 11 at 47. ~ The economic partnership view of marriage has most clearly been adopted by the eight western community property States. It is also reflected in those 28 common law States which provide, at divorce, for an equitable distribution of property held individually by the spouses. See, for example, Minnesota Statutes 518.58 and 518.59. See sec. 307, alternatives A and B, of the Uniform Marriage and Divorce Act, National Conference of Commissioners on Uniform State Laws. The economic partnership view is also expressed in our tax system's aggregation of spouses' income. See Blumberg, supra note 1 at 230. 50 This proposal forms a part of HR. 14119, introduced by Representative Frsfser on June 1, 1976. See sec. 3(b). Congressman Fraser's bill would, however, credit one-earner couples and some two-earner couples with more contributions than they actually made, effectively continuing the 150-percent retirement and disability payments to such families, and shifting the cost of housewife coverage to wage earning contributors. I do not approve this approach. 51 Relatively minor increases in coverage would be offset by widespread moderate de- creases in the amount of benefits presently paid to adult dependents. Under the present in- come replacement formula, families with a wife who would presently claim as her husband's dependent rather than on her own account would receive somewhat lower benefits under either proposal. (while the total of individual retirement benefits payable on each appor- tioned account which would be greater than those individual benefits payable on the hus- band's present account, the total is less than 150 percent of the husband's individual bene- fits, which is what that couple collects today. See discussion in text at notes 28-30 supra.) Under the first proposal, some families in which each spouse presently claims on his own account would receive slightly higher benefits, reflecting allocation of spouses' earnings for those periods during which the wife was absent from the labor market. Under the second proposal, virtually all families in which each spouse would presently claim on his own account would receive slightly higher total benefits, reflecting the result of equal allocation nader the present replacement formula. Since most women who presently receive benefits do so derivatively rather than on their own account, there would result a sizable fund surplus which would be offset by increased costs resulting from extensions of coverage. The primary beneficiaries of new coverage would be the families of disabled aad deceased homemakers on whose accounts death and disability benefits would he payable. Additionally, divorced housewives unable to satisfy the present 20-year rule (supra note 43) mi'ht receive minimum coverage and/or greater benefits than they do now. PAGENO="0256" 248 generated during a marriage 52 and that the housewife does make a valuable economic contribution to her family.53 In conclusion, in keeping with the current national concern with providing adequate employment for all those who want it, a definitive reevaluation of family income taxation and social security benefits would appear to be timely. Changes suggested would not only make for greater equality, a goal toward which our democracy strives, but would also help women maintain individual identity and independence, and would provide women with a neutral tax context in which to make decisions about gainful employment. 52 Supra note 49. ~ See generally, Bell, supra siote 34 at 305-307. See also see. 307 of the Uniform Mar- riage and Divorce Act, National Conference of Commissioners on Uniform State Laws. PAGENO="0257" THE IMPACT OF MASS-MEDIA STEREOTYPES UPON THE FULL EMPLOYMENT OF WOMEN Br GAYE TUCHMAN* CONTENTS Page I. Introduction 249 II. Television 251 A. Commercial television -- 251 B. Public television - 255 C. Television commercials - 256 III. Women's magazines 257 IV. Newspapers and their women's pages 259 V. The effect of the media upon labor force participation 261 A. The violence studies 262 B. The sex role studies - 263 VI. Policy suggestions 265 I. INTRoDUcTIoN As Harold Lasswell pointed out 30 years ago, mass media pass on the social heritage from one generation to the next.' The societal need for continuity and transmission of dominant values may be particu- larly acute in times of rapid social change, such as our own. Individu- als not only need some familiarity with the past, but must also be pre- pared to meet changing social conditions. Nowhere is that need as readily identifiable as in the area of sex roles. Nowhere else have social expectations and social conditions been changing as rapidly. In 1930, less than 20 percent of the nation's adult women worked for pay outside the home, most of them unmarried. In 1976, 56 percent of all American women between the ages of 18 and 64 were in the labor force, most of them married, many with preschool children. Presently 41 percent of the American labor force are women. In the face of such change, the portrayal of sex roles in the mass media is a topic of great social, political, and economic importance. This essay discusses the portrayal of sex roles in the mass media and the effect of that portrayal on the employment pattern of American women. It argues that the depiction of women by the media, including the portrayal of working women, serves as a damper upon the full utili- zation of women in the economy because it discourages women's occu- pational aspirations and encourages their underemployment. This negative effect results because of the perpetration of the outmoded sex-role stereotype that women's place is in the home and that the ideal American women is dependent and ineffectual in her attempts to *Associate professor of sociology, Queens College, City University of New York, Flush- lnr, N.Y. `Harold Lasswell, "The Structure and Function of Communication in Society," in L. Bryson (editor), "The Communication of Ideas" (New York: Harper & Bros., 1948), pp. 3~-o1. (249) 91-686--.77-------17 PAGENO="0258" 250 direct her own life. These stereotypes may influence women as prospec- tive employees, as well as employers who may limit women's job opportunities. There has been no full-scale study of the effects of the mass media on sex role stereotypes. Rather, since `1970, a series of content analyses of TV, women's magazines and newspapers and a series of studies con- cerning the effects of television upon children have yielded results con- grtient with my argument. Additionally, my conclusions are confirmed by the theories of communications experts, as indicated by the follow- ing documented example. Suppose that children's television programs primarily present adult women as housewives, nonparticipants in the paid labor force. Also suppose that girls in the television audience model their behavior and expectations on that of TV women. Such a supposition is quite plausible according to the psychological theory of modeling. This theory states that modeling occurs simply by watching others, with- out any direct reinforcement for learning and without any overt prac- tice. The child imitates the model without being induced or compelled to do so. This concept differs from earlier theories, which regard reward or punishment as indispe.nsable to learning. There now is con- siderable evidence, however, that children do learn by watching a.nd listening to others, even in the absence of reinforcement and overt prac- tice.2 Psychologists note that "opportunities for modeling have been vastly increased by television." It is then equally plausible that girls exposed to TV women may hope to be homemakers as adults, but not workers outside the home. Indeed, as adults, these girls may resist work outside the home unless it is necessary for their families economic well- *being. Encouraging such an attitude in girls can present an economic problem to them and to the Nation in the future. Active participation of women in the labor force is vital to the maintenance of the American economy. In the past decade, the greatest expansion of the economy has been within the sectors that employ women. Yet. because of its neg- ative effect, mass-media stereotypes of women as housewives may be detrimental to the future recruitment of women to the active labor force. This example is a "mere supposition" about the possible impact of the mass-media sex-role stereotypes upon national life. However, as studies cited later indicate, this "mere supposition" may accurately Predict the future. In supporting this hypothesis, this essay examines the media used by an American girl as she goes through school and becomes a worker and probably a spouse and mother. (Today's young `woman is more likely to be working full or part time at age 20 than she is to be married.) This paper will start with an examination of America's dominant media form-television. Women's magazines and women's pages of newspapers will be considered next. Th~ paper will conclude with a review of studies of the impact of the media, upon girls and women, and offer some policy recommendations. 2 Muriel Cantor "Children's Television: Sex-Role Portrayals and Employment Discrimi- nation in The Feder'sl Role in Funding Children s Tele'i ision Piogr~iming vol II edited by K. Mielke et al. (Washington, D.C. : U.S. Office of Education, 1975), p. 5. 2 G. S. Lesser quoted In Cantor, ibid. Handbook on Women Workers" (Washington, D.C.: U.S. Department of Labor, PAGENO="0259" 251 IT. TELEVISION To identify television as the dominant form of media in American life is to engage in a vast understatement. In the average American house- hold, television sets are turned on more than 6 hours each winter day. More American homes have television sets than have private bath- rooms, according to the 1970 census. Typically, by the time an Ameri- can child goes to school, she/he has spent more hours watching tele- vision than she/he will spend in grammar school classrooms. Yet, all forms of television-commercial programing, public broadcasting, and advertisements-perpetrate sex-role stereotypes. The message de- rived from the program is that women aie not integral members of American society and are not essential participants in the labor, force. A. Commercial Television From 1954, the date of the earliest systematic analysis of television's content, through 1975, researchers have found that males dominate the TV screen. Although men are 49 percent of the population, televi- sion has shown and continues to show two men for every woman. (An exception is soap operas, where men are a "mere majority" of the fic-. tional population.) As chart I-i shows, the 2-to-i proportion has been relatively constant. The little variation that exists occurs as a result of the type of program studied-whether all prime time shows, drama~ or comedy. In 1952, 68 percent of the characters in prime-time drama~ were male. In 1973, 74 percent of those characters were male. Women seem to be cOncentrated in comedies, where men make up "only" 60 Percent of the fictional world. Children's cartoons include even fewer female characters, including animals, than adult's primetime pro- grams do. The paucity of women on American TV may suggest t~ viewers that women don't matter much in American society. PAGENO="0260" i-i CD CD CD CD Ce 0 Sb CD Ce `1 0 Ce ilUic' prim., time drama H ` ear of Anai~ sis: 1952 Publication: Ik'ad (1954) S0~ nfl icadins all roles in 1 V prime plays time (all hours) 1969-72 Tedesco (1974) rrh drama comedy prune pnmne timid'., Cal SouRcEs (eorge Gerbner an(1 Tarry Gross, "Progress Report: on Cultural mdi- c:m ore Rosen rch PN)ject,''lI mm iversity of Pennsylvania, in I moo, 1974. loan C. McNeil, "lfemlnlsmn, Femininity, and the Television Series," Ton i-nal of BI-oa(lcasting, 1975, 257-269. Mark Miller and Byron Reeves, "Children's Occupational Sex Role Stereotypes," Journal of Broadcasting, in press. Sydney head, "Content A nalysis of Television 1)rama Programs," Qmiarl;erty of Film, Radio, and TV, 1954, 175-194. 1967-73 1973 Nov. 1974 1973 Gvrhncli 1 uriw Miller. McNeil & Gross (1974) & Reeves (19751 (1974) tin `rr~s) Nancy Tedesco, "Patterns in Prime Time," Journal of Communication, 24, .t19-124. .Ioseplm `l'urow, "Advising and Ordering," .Tournal of Communical:ion, 1:15-141. .1\IeIvln l)eFleur, "Occupational Roles as Portrayed on TV," Public Opin- ion Quarterly, 19(14, 57-74. i\Iildred 1)owning, "heroine of the Daytime Serial," Journal of Corn- ))))) nicatIon, 1974, 130-137. mliii Seogar and Penny Wheeler, ``World of Work on TV," Journal of Tlroadcasting, 1973, 201-214. PAGENO="0261" 253 * The negative i~ess~gé. ot TVincliide~ minimizing the i'ole of worn~ en in the labor force. As chart 1-2 indicates, when TV shows reveal someone's occupation, the worker is most likely to be male. Despite the fact that 41 percent of the labor force is female, television sug- gests that only 20 percent of the labor force is female. TV program~ ing also suggests that working women are likely to be less competent at their jobs, especially when a man in the same TV show holds the same or similar job. CHART 1-2.-Percentage of males among those portrayed as employed on TV, 1903-1973. 3:30 - 11 ~).fl1. weekdays & 10 a.ni. 11 p.ni. weekdays George Gerbner and Larry Gross, "Progress Report on Cultural Indicators Research Project, University of Pennsylvania," mimeo, 1974. Jean C. McNeil, "Feminism, Femininity, and the Television Series," Journal of Broad- casting, 1975,. 257-269. Mark Miller and Byron Reeves, "Children's Occupational Sex Role Stereotypes," Journal of Broadcasting, in press. Sydney Head, "Content Analysis of Television Drama Programs," Quarterly of Film, Radio, and TV, 1954, 175-194. Nancy Tedesco, "Patterns in Prime Time," Journal of Communication, 24, 119-124. Joseph Turow, "Advising and Ordering," Journal of Communication, 138-141. Melvin DeFleur, "Occupational Roles as Portrayed on TV," Public Opinion Quarterly,, 1964, 57-74. Mildred Downing, "Heroine of the Daytime Serial," Journal of Communication, 1974,, 130-137. John Seegar and Penny Wheeler, "World of Work on TV," Journal of Broadcasting 1973, 201-214. Sl.7'.~ ii same as DeFleur Li 1971 See~ar & \V1ic~Ier (1973) SOuRCES soap opern (people ri P" Iesski rat jobs only) 1973 Do~vnin~ U 974) 1963 DeFleur (1964) PAGENO="0262" 254 Gerbner5 points out that this is a characteristic of women who are the: main characters of adventure shows. As Pepper, the "Policewom- an" on the show of the same name, star Angie Dickinson is continu- ally rescued from dire and deadly situations by her male colleagues. The pattern also emerges forcefully on soap operas, a particularly significant finding, since soa.p operas treitt working women as more competent than do other forms of TV entertainment. For instance, on the soap opera "The Doctors," surgical procedures are performed by male physicians. Although the female doctors are said to be com- petent at their work, they are shown pulling case histories from file cabinets or filling out forms. Much of the same pattern is found on other soap operas, where male lawyers try cases and female lawyers research briefs for them. More generally, women do not appear in the same professions as men: men are doctors-women, nurses; men are lawyers-women, secretaries; men work in corporations-women tend boutiques.~ Women are also shown in a narrower range of occupations than are men. Instead of recognizing the importance of married women in the labor force, television presents the idea that women's place is in the home. This idea is conveyed in two ways. First, womeii are usually placed in a sexual context or in a romantic or family role.7 Two out of every three TV women are married, were married or are engaged to be married. Most TV men, by way of contrast, are single and have ~dways been single. Second, by disposing of single and working wom- en through murder, accidents and other forms of violence. TV sym- bolically states that they are less worthy than married homemakers. Thus, positive characteristics are ascribed to married women who are not active in the labor force by not letting any harm befall them. Negative characteristics are ascribed to single and working women by violent mistreatment of them. Portrayal of violence is a crucial consideration, not only because of its pervasiveness on television, but also because it can be interpreted as a symbol of power.8 Aggressors have power; victims are powerless. Therefore, since women are more likely to be victims in TV programs and men are more likely to be aggressors, this could be interpreted symbolically-women have no power. Married women who do not -work rarely have any direct relationship to TV's mayhem. Rather, the female victims of violence are likely to be single, suggesting that ~Jliances with a man protect a woman from involvement with the "evils" of the world. Finally, on those rare occasions that women are portrayed as (symbolically powerful) villains~ the women are likely to be working womem not housewives protected by their husbands. This description of TV violence does not indicate that women must be violent in order to be included among powerful people. Rather. ~t is meant to convey the fact that TV can and does svmbolically infer, Geor~re Gerbner, "The Dynamics of cultural Resistance." in Gaye Tuckman. Arlene Kaplan Daniels. and James Benet. editors. "Hearth and Home: Images of Women in the M~ss Media" (New York: Oxford University Press, 197S). Melvin DeFleur. "Occupational Roles as Portrayed on Television," Public Opinion Quarterly 28 (sprIng 1964). 57-74. George Gerbner, "Violence In Television Drama: Trends and Symbolic Functions." In G. A. Conistock and E. A. Rubenstein. editors, "Television and Social Behavior," yol, I; 28-187 (Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office, 1972). Robert Liehert et al.. "The Early Window: Effects of Television on Children and Youth" (New York: Perramon Press, 1973). S Gerbner, 1972, op. cit. PAGENO="0263" 255 by means of violence, that single and working women are powerless and dispensable individuals. In sum, TV violence contrasts married women with single women to suggest: 1. Single women work; married women do not. 2. Single working women are more likely to encounter evil be- cause they are not protected by a man. 3. Single working women are more likely to do evil and so depart from stereotypes of soft, appealing femininity. 4. By implication, TV content recommends that a woman should both marry `and stay out of the labor force in order to retain her femininity. Finally, children's programing banishes women from the labor force. Although these programs present roughly as many girls as boys, they portray fewer women than men, and the occupational pat- terns depicted in adult programing are also found in children's pro- grams. It is as though a young girl were being told that growing up means disappearance from active social (occupational) life. B. Public Television The only existing study on the subject finds that public television also perpetuates sex-role stereotypes. However, because of its different organizational structure and manifest content, public television does not portray sex-roles through the use of violence, but rather through assigned areas of expertise. First, like commercial television, public broadcasting presents a world that is predominantly male. Eighty-five percent of those par- ticipating in adult spoken programing, other than plays (Masterpiece Theatre, et cetera), are male. Second, of those persons identified as having occupations, roughly 80 percent are male-the same propor- tion found by studies of commercial television. Third, when men are identified as having occupations, they are in appropriately sex-typed jobs. (Occupations may be sex-typed by examining the proportion of men and women in a specific occupation in comparison t~o their re- spective shares of the over-all labor force.) Thus, 76 percent of the men were in "male" jobs and 24 percent in "neuter" jobs; none iii "female" jobs. This distribution results from public television's extensive use of journalists and professional "experts" in its programs. The women, who appear have similar jobs (62 percent male jobs; 32 percent neu- tral jobs; 6 percent female jobs). But, they are called upon to discuss areas of expertise associated with women. Men overwhelmingly dis- cuss business, economics, law and government (56 percent of male ex- perts) and science (10 percent of male experts), areas in which only 26 percent and 3 percent, respectively, of the female experts are found. Women, as experts, are concentrated in such areas as education and career planning, (16 nercent of the women, 3 percent of `the men) ; art, music and culture (11 percent of the women, 4 percent of the men); personalities and biographies (14 percent of the women, 4 percent of the men) ; and items of general interest (16 percent of the women, 13 percent of the men). Caroline Isber and Muriel Cantor, "Report of the Task Force on Women In Public Broadcasting" (Washington, D.C.: Corporation for Public BroadcastIng, 1975). PAGENO="0264" 256 Cantor concludes that "although they differ in their structure and purposes, both commercial and public television disseminate the same message about women." `~ Women's place is in the home, not in the labor force. Women who do work should deal with topics and cOncerns "appropriate" for women. C. Television Co~mmercials TV ads are both more stringent and strident in their depiction of sex-role stereotypes than is either commercial or public programing. Where programing merely wants to appeal to stereotypes to attract an audience, ads invoke stereotypes at their most fundamental levels in order to sell a product. A daring comedy might show two women discussing the relative merits of power-lawn mowers; it would be bad business for a commercial to do so. Three characteristics of TV ads demonstrate that they show women as nonparticipants in the labor force. First, like television programs~ commercials emphasize the role of men and minimize the role of women in our society. For instance. there are more all-male than all- female commercials on children's TV; the ratio of all-male to all- female ads is approximately three to one.'1 Second, males dominate in voice-ovei~s. (A "voice-over" is an unseen person vocalizing about a product, for example an unseen person proclaims "two out of three doctors recommend . . ." or "now on sale at your local . . .") In 1972, Dominick and Rauch found that of 946 ads with voice-overs, "only 6 percent used a female voice.12 Both prior and subsequent studies report similar findings.13 Third, by emphasizing women's role in the home and virtually ig- noring her role in the labor force, the commercials strongly encourage sex-role stereotyping. Although research findings are not strictly com- parable to those on TV programs because of the dissimilar "plots," the portrayals of women may be said to be even more limited than those presented on TV dramas and comedies. In an excellent review article, Linda Busby summarized findings of four major studies of TV ads. One study found that: 37.5 percent of the ads showed women as men's domestic adjuncts. 33.9 percent showed women as dependent on men. 24.3 percent showed women as submissive. 42.6 percent showed women as household functionaries.14 1O Muriel Cantor. "Where Are the Women in Public Television~" in (1. Tuchmnn et nl.. eds.. "Hearth and Home: Images of Women in the Mass Media" (New York: Oxford Uni- versity Press. i978). 11 Stephen Schuetz and Joyce Sprafkin. "Spot Messages on Saturday Morning Television Programs: A Content Analysis." in G. Tuehman et al.. eds.. "Hearth and Home: Images of Women in the Mass Media" (New York: Oxford University Press. 19781. ie Joseph Dominick and Gail Ranch. "The Image of Women in Network TV Commercials," Journal of Broadcasting 16 (3). (10721. 259-265. *~ Judith Bardwick and Suzanne Schumann. "Portrait of American Men and Women in TV Commercials." Psychology IV (4) (1067). 18-23. Arthur Jay Silverstein and Rebecca Silverstein, "The Portrayal of Women in Television Advertising." FCC Bar Journal (1974). 71-OS. 14 Linda J. Busby, "Sex-Role Research on the Mass Media," Journal of Communication 25 (4) (1975), 107-131. PAGENO="0265" 257 Busby's summary of Dominick and Rauch's work reveals a similar concentration upon women as homemakers, rather than as active mem- bers of the labor force: Women were seven times more likely to appear in ads for personal bygi~ne products than not to appear [in those ads]. Seventy-five percent of all ads using females were for products found in the iritchen or in the bathroom. Thirty-eight percent of all females in the television ads were shown inside the home, compared to fourteen percent of the males. Men were significantly more likely to be shown outdoors or in business settings than were women. Twice as many w-omen were shown with children [than] were men. Fifty-six percent of the women in the ads were judged to be [only] housewives. Forty-three percent different occupations were [associated with] men, 18 with women." Dominick and Ranch's work is confirm~cl by several other studies, all reviewed and assessed by Courtney and Whipple.1~ Both Busby and Courtney and Whipple point out that several of the studies might be challenged, because they were undertaken by feminists who had a preestablished viewpoint, rather than by more objective researchers. Furthermore, each study used different categories to code the data for `subsequent analysis. Nonetheless, Busby and Courtney and Whipple independently conclude that all available studies of women's portrayal in TV commercials, including those of avowed feminists, have strong ~`face validity." "Face validity" means, that the findings are so similar they appear .to be the result of real patterns on TV, rather than being the result of the researchers' methods and predispositions. In sum, all aspects of television-commercial programing, public programing and advertisements-emphasize woman's role in the home at the expense of her role in the labor force. III. WoMv~'s MAGAZINES As the American girl grows to womanhoocL she, like her counter- parts elsewhere in indnstria]ized nations, has at her disposal maga- zines designed especially for her use. Some, like Seventeen whose readers tend to be young adolescents, seek to teach her about contem- porary fashions and dating sty].es. Others, like Cosmopolitan and Redbook, aim to instruct her in survival as a young woman-whether as a single woman supposedly hunting a mate in the city or a young married coping with home and hearth. One fact stands out about women's magazines. Like the television programs just discussed, from the earliest analyses of magazine fiction in 1949 16 to analyses pub- ].ished in the early 197O~s,17 researchers have reported an emphasis on home and hearth and a denigration of the working woman. The ideal woman, according to these magazines, is passive and dependent.' Her 15 N. E. Courtney and T. W. Whipple, "Women in TV Commercials," Journal of Commu- nication 24 (2) (1974), 110-118. 1~ p* John-Heine and H. Gerth, "Values in Mass Periodical FIction, 1921-40," Public Opinion Quarterly 13 (spring 1949), 105-113. 17 Helen Franzwa. "Working Women In Fact and Fiction," Journal of Communication 24 (2) (1974), 104-109. Helen Franzwa, "Pronatalism in Women's Magazine Fiction," in Ellen Peale and Judith Denderowitz. editors, "Pronatalism: The Myth of Motherhood and Apple Pie" (New York: T. Y. Crowell 1974 h), 68-77. Helen Franzwa, "Female Holes in Women's Magnzine Fiction. 1940-70." in H. K. TTnger nncl F. L. Denmark, editors. "Women: Dependent or Independent Variable" (New York: Psychological Dimensions 1975), 42-53. PAGENO="0266" 258 fate and her happiness lie in the arms of a man, not in participation in -the labor force. Particularly in middle class magazines, fiction depicts women "as creatures * * * defined by the men in their lives." ~ Studying a ran- dom sample of issues of Ladies Home Journal, McCalls, and Good Housekeeping between the years 1940 and 1970, Helen Franzwa found four roles for women: "Single and looking for a husband, housewife-mother, spinister, and widowed or divorced-soon to re- marry." 17b All the women were defined by the men in their lives, or by the absence of a man. Flora 18 confirms this finding in her study of middle class (Redbook and Cosmopolitan) and working class (True Story and Modern Romances) fiction. She adds that female depend- ence and passivity are lauded; on the rare occasions that male depend- ence is portrayed, it is seen as undesirable. As might be expected of characterization that define women in terms of men, American magazine fiction denigrates the working woman. Franzwa 19 puts it this way: Work is shown to play "a dis- tinctly secondary part in women's lives. When work is portrayed as important to them, there is a concomitant disintegration of their lives." Of the 155 major female characters in Franzwa's sample, only 65 or 41 percent were employed out-side the home. Seven of the 65 held high-status positions. Of these seven, only two were married. Three others were spinsters whose "failure to marry was of far greater im- portance to the story line than their apparent success in their careers." One single woman with a high status career was lauded: She gave up her careerto marry. From 1940 through 1950, Franzwa found working mothers and working wives were condemned. Instead, the magazines emphasized that husbands should support their spouses. One story summary sym- bolizes the magazines' viewpoint: In a 1940 story, a young couple realized that they couldn't live on his salary. She offered to work; he replied, "I don't think that's so good. I know some fel- lows whose wives work and they might just as well not be married." 20 Magazines after 1950 are less forthright about work: In 1955, 1960, 1965, and 1970, not one married woman who worked appeared in the stories Franzwa sampled. (Franzwa selected stories from magazines using 5-year intervals to enhance the possibility of find- ing changes.) Fiction designed for working-class women also projects a nega- tive image of working women. Comparing fiction in magazines for the middle class and working class, Flora- 21 found that all middle- class women depicted dropped from the labor force when they had a man present; 94 percent of the working-class women did so. Flora explains that for both groups: The plot of the majority of stories centered upon tile female achieving the proper dependent status, either by marrying or manipulating existing depend- ency relationships to reaffirm the heroine's subordinate position. The male sup- port-monetary, social, and psychological-which the heroine gains was gen- erally seen as well worth any independence or seifhood given up in the process.~ 17a Franzwa, "Working Women in Fact and Fiction.' 17~ Franzwa, "Working Women in Fact and Fiction." 18 Cornelia Flora, "The Passive Female: Her Comparative Image by Class and Culture In Women's Magazine Fiction," Journal of Marriage and the Family" (August 1971), 435-444;. 19Franzwa, "Working Women in Fact and Fiction." 20 Ibid., pp. 106-108. ~ Flora. op. cit. ~ Flora, op. cit., p. 441. PAGENO="0267" 259 How6ver, it must be emphasized that the depiction of women in. these magazines has changed, as a 1'Lrger proportion of women have entered the. labor force. Studies published in 1958 23 and 1966 24 dis- cuss nonfiction articles in middle-class ~women's magazines that involve jobs for women. Both sets of researchers criticize the women's maga- zines for being unrealistic. The earlier study complains that Made- moiselle, Glamour, and Charm were unduly optimistic in their eval- uationof physical and emotional strains upon working women. The magazines assume that every woman is superwoman and can com- bine a demanding full-time job, family life and social life without various forms of assistance. The 1966 study criticizes Mademoiselle,. Glamour, and Cosmopolitan for "an extraordinary heavy use of male motivational themes" 25-such as amassing power-when describing professional work. They feel those magazines ignore factors which influence women to work and the kinds of jobs actually available to women. Additionally, there is limited evidence of change since the advint of the modern women's movement, which began with the publication of Friedan's Feminine Mystique.26 (Its analysis of sexism-"the prob- lem with no name"-was based in part on an analysis of women's magazines.) Stolz and her colleagues 27 found no changes in the portrayal of women between 1940 and 1972. However, Franzwa reports than an impressionistic study of the magazines she had analyzed earlier suggested more sympathy with working women by 1975.28 Sheila Silver and others find a sympathetic attitude toward working women in McCall's and other magazines.29 Nonetheless, these maga- zines continue to concentrate on helping women as housewives, not as workers in the labor force. Although their message varies slightly according to the social class of their readers,3° magazines continue to assume that every woman will marry, bear children, and make a home. They do not assume that every woman will work some time in her life-despite the increasing probability that t.his is indeed the case.31 IV. NEWSPAPERS AND TI-TEIR WOMEN'S PAGES The very existence of women's magazines indicates that sex roles are stereotyped, because they imply that men and women have separate interests and concerns. One author points out that men's maga~ines include items a.bout sports, occupations. and the general Americp~n culture; items also of interest to women.32 But women's magazines are not designed to appeal to men.33 ~ M. G. Hatch and D. L. Hatch, "Problems of Married and Working Women as Presented by Three Popular Working Women's Magazines." Social Forces 37 (1058), 148-153. ~° P. clarke and v. Esposito, "A Study of Occupational Advice for Women in Magazines," Journalism Quarterly 43 (1066), 477-485. Clark and Esposito, quoted in Busby, op. cit. 28 Betty Friedan, "The Feminine Mystique" (New York: Norton Co., 1963). ~ Gale K. Stolz et al., "The Occupational Roles of Women in Magazines and Books," un- published manuscript (Chicago: Loyola University, n.d.g.). 28 Franzwa. personal communication, October 1976. ~° Sheila Silver, "Then and Now-Content Analysis of McCall's Magazine." paper pre- sented `it the `innual meeting~ of the ~s oci'ition foi Educ'ition in Tourn'ihsm 1976 Margaret Davis, "The Ladies' Home Journal and Esquire: A Comparison," unpublished manuscript, Stanford University, Department of Sociology, 1976. ~° Carole Lopate, "Jackie," in G. Tuchman et al., editors, "Hearth and Home: Images of Women in the Mass Media (New York: Oxford University Press, 1978). ii Several new magazines which are addressed to the working woman are being published, such as Workinc Woman, New Woman, and Ms. 32 Davis, op. cit. - ~ Marjorie Ferguson, "Imagery and Ideology: The Cover Photographs of `Traditional Women's Magazines." in G. Tuchman et al., editors, "Hearth and Home: Images of Women in the Mass Media" (New York: Oxford University Press, 1978). PAGENO="0268" 260. The same distinction betwen general interests hncl women's interests is found in newspapers.34 Women are presumed to be interested in men's activities, but the reverse* iS not held to be true. IVoinen's con- ceriis are depicted to be the home, faimly. fashions, furnishings, recipes~ society p~irties, and marriages-topics supposedily beyond the pale fo~' men who have confonnecl to their appropriate sex-role stereotype. The distinction is historically grounded: stories on sex-typed women's topics were first carried in the 1880's on pages with ad~ertisenients of interest to women. They were. viewed as a novelty, akin to sports news and cartoons. whicli were also introduced to build readership at that time. As novelt~es. they were viewed as nonnews by professional jour- nalist~, a definition that still exists.33 Today's women's ~ do not view women as interested or involved in the labor force. except when their paid occupations have an adverse affect on their ability to fulfill home and family responsibilities.36 . Five recent studies are critical to understanding contemporary women's pages: One. survey of the Nation's women's pages found a great emphasis upon marriage, recipes. and traditional women's con- cerris.37 A second author noted that urban newspapers cover society parties and dinners: they hold up the social activities of wealthy women (nonparticipants in the labor force) as examples of behavior toward which all women should aspire.~ A third author suggested that women's pages tend to feature women who are important only because they arc the wives of important men-that is. satellites- leading to the inference that this type of dependent woman is the `~ideal." The most admired women list features, for the most part, satellite women. Recently some satellite wives have. tried to l)ecome activitists or personalities in their own right by having their famous husbands or fathers sponsor their activity or pro~ect.~° A fourth author noted the emphasis upon home. marriage and wealth and the minimalization of concern with participation in the 1abor force. She adds that recent attempts to upgrade the women's page by converting it to a people or family page have similarly played clown women's economic activities. Rather than increasing coverage of women's participation in the labor force and of the women's movement, the people pages have incorpoi'at.ed other items formerly found else- where. in newspapers, such a~ movie reviews. restaurant reviews, and stories about celebrities.40 Finally,, one study finds some coverage of women in the labor force in the New York Times, primarily coverage of the womens move- ment.41 It suggests that coverage of the women's movement went ~ Cynthia Fuchs Epstein, "The Women's Movement and the Women's Paces: Separate: Unequal and Unspectacular," in G. Tuchman et al. editors. "Hearth and Home: Images of Women in the Mass Media" (New York: Oxford University Press. 197s1. `~ Harvey L. Molotch, "Men's Work, Women's News." in G. Tuchman et al. editors, "Hearth and Home: Images of Women in the Mass Media" (New York: Oxford University Press, 197S). ~ Zena B. Guenin, "Women's Pages In Contemporary Newspapers: Missing Out on Con- temporary Content," Journalism Quarterly (1974). 66-69. 75. ~` Lindsay Van Gelder. "Women's Pages: Ya Can't Make News Out of a Silk Purse." MS (November 1974), 112-116. ~S G. William Domhoff. "The Women's Page as a Window on the Ruling Class." in G. Tuchman et ai., editors, "Hearth and Home: Images of Women in the Mass Media" (New York: Oxford University Press, 19781. `~ Gladys Engel Lang, "The Most Admired Woman." in G. Tuchman et al.. editors. "Hearth and Home: Images of Women in the Mass Media" (New York: Oxford University Press, 1978). 4° Guenin, op. cit. 4' Gnye Tucliman, "The Newspaper as a Social Movement's Resource." in Gaye Tuchman ~t al., editors, "Flearth and Home: Image of Women in the Mass Media" (New York: Oxford University Press, 1978). PAGENO="0269" 261 through several stages~ first, ridicule and ostracism; second, restric~ tionto the women's page; and third, coverage of POlitIcal and economic activities, including participation in the labor force, on general iiews pages as issues introduced by feminists were brought into the institu- tionalized congressional and legal arenas. Yet here, too, all recent studies find that newspapers, like other media, perpetuate sex-role stereotyping. Images presented of women lag well behind the actual participation of women in the labor force. They reflect dominant attittides that women's task is to tend the home. V. TIlE EFFECT OF TI-IE MEDIA Tirox LABOR FORCE PARTICIPATION A dilemma remains. All the media discussed laud nonworking wives~ Yet women continue to enter the labor force at a rate that has far exceeded the predictions of demographers and specialists on the labor force. What are we to make of this discrepancy between the sex-roTe ster~O- types reflected ~fl the media and the employment Pattern of women? Does the discrepancy mean that the mass media reflect attitudes dis- carded by the iopulation and have no effect on the behavior of women? This htttei possibility is qmte seducti\ e gu en the p~ttein of women's high labor force participation. But that conclusion conflicts with every existing theory about the mass media.. Communications theorists agree that mass media are the cement of American social life-a source of common interest and of conversation. Children and adults may schedule their activities arouncT favorite television programs. The mass media serve to coordinate the activities of diverse societal institutions, and they pass on the social heritage from one generation to the next. The view that the media influence work patterns seems plausible, because most women enter tile labor force out of perceived economic necessity; yet they continue to maiiitain traditional beliefs about women's role in the home.42 1\Toineii enter the labor force despite the stereotypes perpetrated by the mass media. The mass medha probably inhibits women's employment, discour- ages women's educational audi occupational aspirations, and facilitates the underemployment of women by encouraging piospective employers to identify women workers with low-paying traditional female jobs, This analysis of the role of the media is substantiatedi by all available evidence about the impact of the media upon sex-role stereotyping. Aimee Dorr. Leifer points out that television provides many of the same socialization processes as the family. It may even compete with the family as a socializing agent. The im act of television upon children is particulari~r clear regardling the effect of television, violence. This evidence is available because of the national push for such re- search after the. political assassinations amid riots of the 1960's. Because there has not been a similar push to learn about the impact of tele- vised sex-role stereotypes, oiie must draw upon the violence studies to discuss sex roles. 42 Karen Oppenheim Mason, John L. Czajk-a, and Sara Arher, "Change in U.S. Women's Sex Role Attitudes." American Sociological Review 41 (4) (i9Ttm). 5ui-~Oa. - ~ Aimee Dorr Leifer, "Socialization Processes in the Family," paper presented at Pr1~ Jeunesse Seminar, Munich, Germany, 1975. PAGENO="0270" 262 A. The Violence Stud'~eg Social science researchers frequently disagree about which methods of research are appropriate to gain insight into a problem. All ~cm ready to admit that the ideal way to explore television's impact would be to perform a controlled experiment in a natural setting. Ideaily, one would isolate a group that did not watch television, matching `characteristics of individuals in that group with the characteristics `of others whose viewing was designed by the researchers. The groups Would be studied over a period of some yea.rs to see whether the effects ~f TV are cumulative. Unfortunately, such a research design is impossible.. Because virtu- * ally all American homes have at least one television set, one cannot locate children to be in the "control group"-children who have not been exposed to television. To circumvent this problem, the violence * researchers used both laboratory and field experiments. In the former, * children were exposed to carefully selected (and sometimes specially ;prepared) videotapes, lasting anywhere from 10 minutes to an hour. Their behavior was analyzed before, during and after viewing the 4ape. By carefully controlling which children would see what tape ~(designing "control groups"), the experimenters could comment upon the effect of televised violence on the children. Unfortunately, such studies are artificial. Researchers cannot state definitively the extent to which the research findings are related to behavior in the real world. Although the second approach, field experiments, does not "smell of the laboratory," it too has difficulties. First, such studies are invariably "correlational." That means the studies demonstrate that two kinds of behavior are found together; the studies cannot state whether one behavior causes the other or whether both behaviors are caused by a third characteristic of the children being studied. For instance, in the violence studies, teams of researchers asked youths and children about their viewing habits (and in one case tried to control those habits) a.nd also measured (in a variety of ways) their antisocial behavior. Al- though viewing `aggression and antisocial behavior were invariably found to be associated, it remains possible that some third factor ac- counted for the variation. The fact that different research teams interviewed children of dif- ferent sexes, ages, social classes, and races living in different parts of the country makes it fairly certain that a third factor was not responsi- ble for the association of TV viewing and antisocial behavior. This conclusion is strengthened `by evidence from the laboratory studies: The conclusions from `both types.of research dovetail, rather than con- tradict one another. Furthermore, since the U.S. Surgeon General issued his report in 1973, additional field studies have found: That viewing televised or filmed violence in a naturalistic setting increases the incidence of naturally occurring aggression, that long-term exposure to television may increase one's `aggressiveness. and that exposure to televised violence may increase one's tolerance for everyday aggression.~ ~ Ibid., p. 15. PAGENO="0271" 263 B. The Sex Role Studies S Studies of the impact of televised sex role stereotypes draw on the same methods and research reasoning as the violence studies. First, content analyses document the extent of stereotyping. Second, labora- tory experiments seek to document the impact of controlled viewing upon research subjects. Third, field studies (including attitudinal surveys) try to locate differences between the attitudes of children who are light TV viewers and those who are heavy viewers, while controlling for other pertinent variables. Like the violence studies, those concerning sex roles draw on the concept of socialization. They ask, do girls model their own behavior on that observed on television? This general question may be broken down into five component questions: 1. Do girls pay closer attention to female characters than to m~ale characters Y-Joyce Sprafkin and Robert Liebert report the results of three laboratory experiments designed to see whether (a) boys and girls each prefer TV programs featuring actors of their own sex, (b) whether' the children pay closer attention when someone of the same sex is on the TV screen, and (c) whether the children prefer to watch members of their own sex engaging in sex-typed behavior (playing with dolls or footballs, reading with one's parents) ~ To gather in- formation, they enabled the child being tested to switch a dial, choos- ing between an episode of "Nanny and the Professor" `and one of the "Brady Bunch." (Children like to watch situation `comedies.) 46 For each program, episodes featuring male or female characters were selected with different episodes showing a boy or girl engaged in a sex- typed or non-sex-typed behavior. The findings are clear: In their view habits, children prefer sex-typing. They prefer programs featuring actors of their own sex; they watch members of their own sex more closely; they also pay more attention when a member of their own sex engages in sex-typed behavior. According to Sprafkin and Liebert, such behavior probably involves learning, because according `to psy- chological theories, children prefer to expose- themselves to same-sex models as an information-seeking strategy; children are presumed to attend to same-sex peers because they already sense that much social reinforcement is sex-typed, and want to discover the contingencies that apply to their own gender.'7 2. Do girls value the attributes of female characters or of male characters Y-The evidence on evaluation is not as clear. A variety of communications researchers, particularly groups working at Michigan State University `and University of Wisconsin, `have performed a series of laboratory experiments to determine which specific characters boys and girls prefer, and why. They find th'at invariably boys identify with male characters. Sometimes though (about 30 percent of `the time) ~ Joyce Sprafkln and Robert Liebert. "Sex and Sex Roles as Determinants of Children's Television Program Selections and Attention," unpublished manuscript, State University of New York at Stonybrook, 1976. ~° J. Lyle and H. R. Hoffman, "Children's Use of Television and Other Media," in Tele- vision and Social Behavior, vol. 4 (Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1972). ~ Sp'rofkin and Liebert, op. cit., p. 22. Cf., J. B. Grusec and D. B. Brinker, Jr., "Reinforce- ment for Imitation as a Social Learning Determinant With Implications for Sex-Role Development," Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 21. (1972), 149-158. PAGENO="0272" 264 girls also identify with or pvefer male charactérs.4S When girls choos& a TV character as a model, they are grnded by the characters physical ~ttractivenéss; boys are guided by strength. Indeed, even when girls: select a male character, they flppea.r to be guided by his physical attrac- tivenêss. Girls who select male characters do not stat.e that the feniale characters do the same kind of things as they, themselves, do.4° 3. Does TV viewing have an impact on the attitudes of young chil- dren tOward sex roles ?-Here the evidence is clearer. Freuh and Me- Ghèe ~° interviewed children in kindergarten through sixth grade, asking them about the amount of time they speiid watching TV and testing the extent and direction of their occupational sex-typing. The children who viewed the most TV (25 hours or more each week) were significantly more traditional in their occupational sex-typing than those who viewed the least (10 hours or less per week). Because this study is correlational, one cannot know whether viewing determines. sex-typing or vice versa. But Beuf reports similar correlational find- ings TV does seem to be the culprit, according to laboratory studies: on TV ~ iewmg `md occupational pi eferences Millei `md Reeves `tsked clnldien to watch TV ch'mracteis in tiadi- tion'ml and nonti `mdition'd 1 oles ~incl then `tskecl them wh'mt kinds of jobs boys and girls could hold when they grow up. Children exposed to pro- gi~ams about female police officers, for instance, were significantly inor~ likely to state, that a women could be a police officer than were children who watched more traditional fare. Pingree reports similar laboratory results for nonsexist commercials. 4. Do these attitvcies continue as children n?atu.re?-It is known that sex-typing increases as children mature. Second-graders are more insistent in their sex-typing than first graders are. Adolescent boys and girls insist upon discriminating betwen behavior by sex. But nobody knows about the impact of TV on this process. Teenagers claim the ability to differentiate between what is real and what is fantasy in entertainment shows. (Medical shows are supposedly real; a flying nun is phoney.) ~ But no one has asked the children about sex-typing. If the research on violence is any indication, however, continued exposure should lead to a greater impact. 4S Byron Reeves and Bradley Greenberg, "children's Perceptions of TV Characters.' paper presented at the anilual meeting of the Association for Education in Journalism, College Park, Md., 1976. Mark M. Miller and. Byron Reeves. "Children's Occupational Sex-Role Stereotypes: The Linkage Between Television Content and Perception," Journal of Brodcastin~ (in press), 1976. Mark M. Miller, "Factors Affecting Children's Cl1oices of TV Characters as Sex-Role Models," paper presented at the annual meeting of the Association for Education in Jour- nalism, College Park. Md.. 1976. Byron Reeves, "The Dimensional Structure of Children's Perception of TV Characters,'~ unpublished doctoral dissertation, Michigan State University, 1976. ~` Reeves. op. cit. 5° T. Frueh and P. E. McGhee. "Traditional Sex-Role Develonment and Amount of Time Spent Watching Television." Developmental Psychology 11 (1975). 109. 5tAnn Beuf. "Doctor, Lawyer, Household Drudge," Journal of Communication 24 (2) (19~4). 142-14u. Miller and Reeves, op. cit. ~ Suzanne Pingree, "The Effects of Nonsexist Television Commercials and Perceptions of Reality on Children's Attitudes Toward women." paper presented at the annual meetings of the International Communication Association, Portland, Oreg. 1976. °` Leifer, op. cit., pp. 33-39. PAGENO="0273" 265 5; Does TT~ viewing influence the ambitions of aciol~scent giris.~- Woik by Gioss `Lnd Jeffues Fox indicates, definitely ~ es In their lEield study, they find: TV ~ iew ing is negatn ely associated w ith educition'tl aspir `itions The daughters of the college educ'ited who `ne high TV ~iew ers are happy at the thought of being a full-time mother at age 30; low TV viewers are not. High-viewing is also associated with being happy at the thought of having four children by age 30. Low-viewing is associated with smaller family size. Heavy television viewing is particularly likely to be associated with traditional responses (that is, to become wives and mothers) by the daughters of the college- educated. These patterns do not hold for sons. Finally, it is possible that the impact of heavy television viewing will continue when these adolescents become adults, providing they are still heavy viewers and TV stereotyping persists. As social psycholo- gists stress, socialization is an ongoing process. In summary, mass media have an adverse effect on the self-image of girls and women as capable contributors to the economy and to society. VI. POLICY SUGGESTIONS Taken together, the preceding materials suggest that the image of women projected by mass media may exert a conservative force upon the employment of women. The lessons provided .by the mass media probably: 1. Prevent some affluent and other classes of women from seeking employment. 2. Discourage women who must w-ork from seeking better jobs or setting higher goals. However, it is impossible to prove this statement because there are no studies about the relationship between media use and labor force par- ticipation. The closest approximation to such research is a dissertation on media use and the occupational aspIrations of adolescent girls and boys.56 Conversely, nothing is known about the impact of the~ media upon employers. Therefore: 1?ecommenclation 1: Congress should fund a full-scale analysis of the effect of mass-media images upon children and adults.. Funded on the scale of the "Surgeon General's Report on Violence and Children," such a study would provide benefits beyond the discovery of new infor- mation. By generating publicity, it would help to establish the equal- ity of women as a national priority. Additionally, other actions should `be undertaken even before such an inquiry is completed. They are more than justified by the known influence of the mass media upon children's sex-role stereotyping. These other measures, however, are more complex to initiate because of the nature of the agencies responsible for the regulation of the media. 1. Newspapers and news magazines are regulated by the Post Office and Federal Trade Commission. ~ Larry Gross and Suzanne Jeffries-Fox. 1978. "What Do You Want To Be When You Grow Up Little Girl?" A paper presented at the symposium on women arid the news media sponsored by the National Science Foundation, San Francisco, April 1975. For additional and somewhat contradictory data, see a later draft of this naper in G. Tuchman et al. "Hearth and Home: Images of Women in the Mass Media" (New York: Oxford University Press, 1978). 5~ Suzanne Jeifries-Fox, "Television and Adolescent Girls' Occupational Aspirations," Ph. D. dissertation, in process, Annenberg School of Communication University of Pennsylvania. 91-GSG-77----1s PAGENO="0274" 266 2. Advertising on the electronic media is scrutinized by the Federal Traae Commission (FTC) and is also under the aegis of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC). 3. The FCC provides the primary regulation of radio and television, although there is some overlap with other agencies, that is, the U.S. Commission of Civil Rights in such matters as Equal Employment Opportunities. Generally, the FCC encourages self-regulation through the National Association of Broadcasters and the N.A.B. Code.~ Recommendation 2: Congress should fund a pilot project at several newspapers serving cities of varying sizes to see whether increased staffi~ng could alter the portrayal of women on women's pages. This rec- ommendation is based on the assumption that more local reporting and less use of syndicated items would alter the portrayal of women in newspapers. Recom'imendation 3: Sex-role stereotypes in the electronic media siwuld be banned. The monitoring of the electronic media should be more thorough. First, the Federal Trade Commission should be en- couraged to enforce more strictly the advertising code of the National Association of Broadcasters. According to the code: The broadcaster and the advertiser should exercise special caution with the content and presentation of television commercials placed in or near programs designed for children. Exploitation of children should be avoided. Commercials directed to chil- dren should in no way mislead as to the product's performance or usefulness.~ Recommendation 4: the Federal Trade Commi.ssion should ban sex- typed advertising. If the FTC fails to do this, Congress should enact the appropriate laws. According to the National Association of Broadcasters' Code: Advertising messages should be presented with courtesy and good taste- every effort should be made to keep advertising messages in harmony with the content and general tone of the program in which it appears.59 This should be interpreted as applying to sex-typing in all commer- cials. According to Silverstein and Silverstein: 60 The portrayal of women in commercials does not depend upon the type of program in which they are aired. Rather, the type of program determines the nature of the product advertised, which in turn determines the portrayal of women in advertisements. Sex-role stereotyping can be found in advertising for male-oriented, female-ori- ented and neuter products. Recommendation 5: The NAB Code should be interpreted as ban- fling sex-role stereotypes. Specific attention should be paid to sex-role stereotypes in program content. Although the FCC has traditionally shied away from the regulation of television content, a recent notice of inquiry departed from that stance. The FCC acknowledged the Supreme Court's recent Red Lion decision which declared that broadcasters' first amendment rights are not superior to those of the viewers :61 The FCC declared that it had both the right and the affirmative duty to develop policy designed to assure that children's programs and accompanying adver- ~ The NAB radio and TV codes are broadcasting standards established by the industry anl subscribed to voluntarily by many commercial broadcasters as part o~ an industry- wide self-regulatory program. - ~ National Association of Broadcasters, "The Television Code," 19th edition sec. X pnr 3, June 1976, p. 12. ~ Ibid., sec. X, par. 1, p~ 12. °° Silverstein and Silverstein, op. cit., pp. 95-96. °` 395 iTS. 367 (1969). PAGENO="0275" 267 tisements serve the public interest. Furthermore, dissenting opinions issued by FCC commissioners affirm the right and duty of the FCC to regulate program content. Recommendation 6: The FCC should be encouraged to `effect its right and affirmative duty in regard to sex-role sterotyping in all tele- vision programing. This is vital because in 1974 62 the FCC declared itself willing to give the industry another opportunity to regulate it- self: at the same time, the NAB Code did nothing to alter its regu- lations, which were inadequate regarding sex-roles. Only two para- graphs in the NAB Code pertain to the portrayal of women: Special sensitivity is necessary in the use of material relating to sex, race, color, age, creed, religious functionaries or rites, or national and ethnic derivation.63 [Section IV, paragraph 7, 1976 (Code)]. The presentation of marriage, the family and similarly important human re- lationships, and materials with sexual connotations, `shall not be treated exploit- atively or irresponsthly, but with sensitivity. Costuming and movements of all perfOrmers shall be handled in a similar fashion (section IV, paragraph 9). The code authority of the NAB holds that section IV, paragraph 7 means: Advertisers and broadcasters should endeavor to depict all persons in a posi- tive manner, always keeping in mind the importance of human dignity to every human being. Increased efforts should be made to promote concepts of self-pride, dignity and individual worth. All parties involved in the preparation of broadcast material should be sensi- tive to the need for balance in the portrayal of men and women in all aspects of society, both inside and outside of the home.~ Nonetheless, individual stations continue to interpret section IV, paragraph 7, as applying to sex, rather than to sex roles. The 1975 statement of the code authority has not been applied to sex-role stereo- typing and occupational stereotypes. Written guidelines used at the networks do not rectify this omission inasmuch as content analyses (previously reviewed) find that stereo- typing continues to be unabated. The Columbia Broadcasting System (CBS) has no written guidelines as of October 1, 1976. The. American Broadcasting Company (ABC) does not mention stereotyping: ABC `will accept no program which misrepresents, ridicules, or attacks any individual or group on a basis of race, creed, sex, color, or national origin.~ The National Broadcasting Co. (NBC) does specify: Special sensitivity is necessary in presenting material relating to sex, age, race, color, creed, religion or national or ethnic origin to avoid contributing to damaging or demeaning stereotypes.67 Actual practices seem to be summed by the ABC spokesperson who explained that its Broadcasting Standards and Practices Depart- ment (a) employs sensitive people, and (b) deletes adverse, terms s~h as "chick" and "broad" from programs. The spokesperson then negated ~ Federal Communications Commission, "Report and Policy Statement, Children's Tele- vision Programs," 39 FR. 39400, Nov. 6, 1974. ~ National Association of Broadcasters, sec. Iv, par. 7, p. 5. °~ Ibid., sec. IV, par. 9, p. 5. ~5 Code authority of the National Association of Broadcasters, board statement on sex depictions after NOW appeal, Code News 8 (10) (1975), p. 2. 66 Telephone conversation with American Broadcasting Co. spokesperson re ABC Stand- ardsand Practices, see. III. 22. National Broadcasting Co., "NBC Broadcast Standards for Television, n.d.g., pp. 6-7, PAGENO="0276" 268 tIns positive, attitude toward se~ stereotyping by refusing to comment on sex-role occupational stereotyping. The networks, the NAB, and the FCC have not addressed themselves to the negative pattern of women's images that is aired. In a case in which a licensee (WTRc_T'V) was challenged alid allegations made about the negative patterii of por- trayal of women, the FCC placed the burden of proof upon the chal- lenger rather than the licensee and did not find the licensee a.t I~aiñt.6s Recommendation 7: Congress should pass appropriate legislation requiring the 11CC to serve the public interest by denying the renewal of licenses when a challenger can establish a pattern of stereotyping in programs aired by the licensee. The emphasis upon patterns is cru- cial, since legislation about the content of any one program ca.n be in- terpreted as a violation of the first amendment, notwithstanding the Supreme Court's Red Lion decision. Recommendation 8: Congress should use its i'&lirect influence on public television to improve the portrayal of women on pa blic TV (as well as the employment processes in the Congress itself. Recommendation 9: Priority should be given to the enforcement of affirmative action programs in mass media organizations. Present forms used by the FCC to gather data about the employment of women and minorities are vague: 1. It cannot be determined how? many white women, white men. black men, other women, and other men are employed by any station or by all stations. 2. The job classifications used obscure the actual responsibilities and power of men and women, blacks and whites. 3. It cannot be determined how many or what proportion of female and minority employment would meet a requirement or would represent the view- ers or workers in a licensee's city or signal area. 4. Hiring patterns and available jobs over the past licensing period are not determined. 5. The FCC does not determine how cr why individuals are hired (whether specific persons are located through an equal employment opportunity search or through existing "old boy networks"). Reco~imnciation 10: Con qress should enact specific guidelines man- dating th~ nonrenewal of licenses if equal employment opportumty procedures are not implemented. The burden of proof of compliance should be placed upon the licensee. An outside authority (U.S. Com- mission of Civil Rights) should design the necessary forms. since the FCC has not implemented the law. Independent studies ~° reveal that the hiring of women has slowed down. Although there are more women em]3loyed in the industry than in the past, the rate at which they are employed is not rising as much as it had previously. 63Federal Communications Commission, Memorandum Opinion and Order ne Application of National Broadcasting Co., Inc., for Renewal of License of WRC-TV, Washington, D.C., 52 FCC 2d 273, 286 (1975a). ~ Federal Communications Commission, Notice of Inquiry and Notice of Proposed Rule- making in Re Nondiscrimination in the Employment Policies and Practices of Broadcast Licensees, FCC 75-849-36343 (1975b). (Cf. concurring statements of J. Quello; also B. Hooks, p. 6 if.) 70Ralph M. Jennings and Veronica Jefferson. "Television Station Employment Practices: The Status of Minorities and Women, 1974," UnIted Church of Christ. Office of Communi- cation.' mimeo. December 1974. Ralph M. Jennings and Veronica M. Jefferson, "Television Station Employment Prac- tices': The Status of Minorities and Women, 1975," United Church of Christ, Office of Communication. mimeo, January 1975. PAGENO="0277" Part ITT. INTERNATIONAL COMPARISONS (269) PAGENO="0278" PAGENO="0279" WORKING WOMEN: EUROPEAN EXPERIENCE AND AMERICAN NEED Br ALICE H. CooK * CONTENTS Page I. Women's participation in the labor force 272 II. Th~ goal of equality 274 III. Compensatory programs for labor market reentry and training 276 IV. Experience abroad in reentry and training 278 A. Austria 278 B. Australia 280 C. Federal Republic of Germany 282 D. Sweden 285 V. Experience abroad in child care 288 A. Australia 290 B. Austria 295 C. France 297 D. Sweden 301 The problems which working women face are well-nigh universal. A list of their special circumstances and needs indicates the extent of the problems' complexities and pressures: First, unquestionably, is the double burden which these women carry of both home responsibility and job requirements. Consequences of this dual role which society assigns to women are their cries for support systems which will provide child care or offer them the possibility of flexible working hours. Second is the nature of what have been called "women's jobs," typi- cally low-paid, low-opportunity occupations with the consequent cliis- tering-indeed overcrowding-of women in very restricted areas of the labor market. Third are women's handicaps within a labor market structured for men's lifetime, uninterrupted careers, with the resultant lack of pro- vision for women's entry, reentry and training in their mid-adult years; there are also low ceilings on promotion, on-the-job training or released time training and a lack of opportunity for women to move into supervisory and middle management posts. Foufth are the assumptions underlying labor market policy which hold that women are temporary entrants in the labor market, secondary earners in the family and dependents of their husbands. This is evident in tax and social security legislation, based on a male breadwinner as head of family. . . Fifth is the failure of the public education system in its curricula and counseling to assume that most women will work a large part of their adult lives. *professor Emerita, Cornell University, Ithaca, N.Y. (271) PAGENO="0280" 272 Sixth is the continuing though diminishing existence of overt dis- crimination against women in many occupations and in many job and training opportunities. Some countries, including the United States, have taken decided steps to eliminate some of these inequities. During 1972 and 19Th, at the invitation of the Ford Foundation, I traveled in nine countries (six of them with free market economies, three of them Communist) to look at the particular problems of working mothers' and at the programs which had been designed and carried out to meet the special needs of women. This article will deal with some of the findings of that trip and of the ongoing study which has followed it.. For the policymaker and legislator, the task is first to comprehend the dimensions of the problems which working women face and to understand their basic causes. Then it is to evaluate the experiments iii. other countries for their relevance to the United States and the way in which they can be incorporated into our legal and social system. * I. Wosri~x's RUiTIcIPATI0X IX THE LABoR FORCE Other articles in this volume have dealt in detail with the facts .of women's growing participation in the labor force. Here. it is sufficient to: call attention to the fact that ~ perceiit of all women between the ages of 18 and 64 are in the labor force, making up about 41 percent of all persons in the labor market.2 The proportion of women in t.he labor force in every age group has steadily risen, but the most striking increase has been among women over 35 years of age. The result is that women in these age groups are rapidly approaching the partici- pation rates of women in their early twenties. Lowest rates of participation were among the very young~ (40.1 per- cent.for those 16 and 17 years of age) and older women (41.1 percent for those 55-64 years of age). The rate for women in the most fertile childbearing years. 25-34, rose from 36 perceiit in 1960 to 57.1 percent in December 1976.~ A second significant change in the labor market has been among the trroup of women who are young mothers. While the labor force participation rate of all women 20-24 rose from 45 percent in 1960 to 65 percent in 1976. the rate for wives in this age group with children under 6 doubled from 18 perceiit to 37.4 Percelit.4 The reasons why women. incllldlina~ young mothers, work are largely economic and can be explained by the desire for a. comfortable living standard for themselves and their children. the increasing rate of in- flation which has made two incomes in a. family desirable if not ab- 1 See the author's "The Working Mother: A Study of Problems and Programs in Nine Countries" (Ithaca, N.Y.: School of Industrial and Labor Relations. Cornell University. 197~) The countries visited were Australia. Austria. the two Germanys. Israel. Japan. Romania, Sweden, and the U.S.S.R. Some of these countries have been revisited in the recent past and Yugoslavia. England, and France added to the list under continuing study. 2 U.S. Denartment of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics, washington, D.C., unpublished data for 197G. I Ibid., unpublished data. Ibid., unpublished data. PAGENO="0281" 273 solutely necessary, and the increasing number of single women heads of families.5 The labor market in this country, as in others, has moreover been receptive to the increasing number of women candidates for work. The growing demand for white-collar, educational, health, and service workers in the developed nations as their economies have moved be- yond an emphasis on production to one of consumer goods and serv- ices, has been a major factor favoring the increased employment of women. The demand "pull" has played as important a role probably as the supply "push" in the growth of women's jobs in the work force.6 Indeed, one of the great changes in labor force structure has been the growing proportion of women workers who are married. The rate of their participation climbs more steeply than that of other women in the labor force and is closely correlated with their level of educa- tional achievement. While the labor force participation rate for all wives in March 1974 was 43 percent, it ranged from 32 percent for those with less than 4 years of high school to 59 percent for those with 4 or more years of college.T Thus, the steadily rising level of educational attainment in this country has a significant effect on women's labor force participation, even when they are married and the mothers of children. These characteristics of women's labor force participation in the United States appear in many other developed countries.~ In Sweden, the proportion of women over 16 who were working in 1970 was 53.7 Percent and the proportion of married women 52.7 percent; in Fin- land, 60 percent of all married women worked and 43 percent of the labor force was made up of women; in Great Britain in 1969, 39.3 percent of all married women worked and women macIc up 35.8 per- cent of the labor force.9 In Japan, by 1972, 46.1 percent of the labor force were women.1° Table 1 gives comparative information on six countries as to the activity rate of all women and of married women in their respective labor forces: ~1 The number of families beaded by women increased from 5,573,000 in 1970 to 5,595,000 In 1971 and 6,184,000 in 1972. See Howard Hayge, "Labor Force Activity of Married women," Monthly Labor Review, April 1973. "While 1 out of every 10 families was headed by a woman a decade ago, the ratio in March 1973 was 1 out of every S families." "Man- power Report of the President," transmitted to the Congress (Washington, D.C.: Govern- ment Printing Office, April 1975), p. 70. ° For an explication of this view, see Valerie Oppenheimer, "The Interaction of Demand and Supply and Its Effect on the Female Labor Force in the United States," Population Studies, 1967, 21: 3, pp. 239-259, and Juanita Kreps, "Sex in the Marketplace: American Women at Work," Policy Studies in Employment and Welfare, No. 11 (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins Press, 1971), pp. 33-40. "1975 Handbook on Women Workers," bulletin 297 (Washington, D.C.: U.S. Depart- ment of Labor, 1975), p. 24. By 1975, the International Labour Office (ILO) reported that the developed countries on the whole had the highest participation rates of women in their respective labor forces. ILO, "Womanpower, the Worlds Female Labor Force in 1975 and the Outlook for 2000 (Geneva, 1975), p. 8. See table in Cook, op. cit., p. 2. ~ Statistics for Japan do not show the proportion of women who are married. The num- ber is unquestionably rising, although the rate probably lags behind that of other countries. See Joyce Lebra,' Joy Paulson, and Elizabeth Powers, editors, "Women in Changing Japan," (Boulder, Cob.: Westview Press, 1976). "Twenty years ago married women were half of all employed women; today they are two-thirds of the female work force." p. 109. ~1 By 1974, the Women's Bureau of the Department of Labor reported a married women's participation rate of 43 percent and other women at 40.9 percent. "1975 Handbook," p. 19. PAGENO="0282" 274 TABLE 1-PARTICIPATION OF MARRIED AND OTHER WOMEN AGED 15 AND OVER IN THE LABOR FORCE, SELECTED COUNTRIES, 1970 [In percentj Activity rate Composition of total Iabo r force Married Other Married Other ~Country Allwomen women women Total Males women women Hungary Great Britain 48 43 52 41 41 47 100 100 59 64 28 22 13 14 Sweden 37 36 39 100 65 20 15 United States 40 38 44 100 63 21 16 Australia 37 33 46 100 68 18 14 France 36 20 59 100 65 12 23 Source: Adapted from I LO, "Womanpo wer," table VIII, p.31. If one looks simply at the female part of the labor force, one gets an even more striking picture of the relation of married women working ~to nonmarried. Using the same countries, this point is illustrated in table 2. TABLE 2.-PROPORTION OF MARRIED AMONG ACTIVE AND ALL WOMEN AGED 15 AND OVER: SELECTED COUNTRIES, 1970 [In percent[ Country Women in the labor force All women Married N ot married Married Not married Hungary Great Britain Sweden 69 60 58 31 40 42 64 64 60 36 36 40 United States -- 57 43 60 40 Australia 57 43 65 35 France 33 67 59 41 Source: Adapted from ILO, "Womanpower," table IX, p. 32. In its "lookback to 1950" the International Labor Organization (ILO.) notes that: The female labor force has about doubled in number in Northern America and in much of Latin America and Oceania during the last 25 years. .. . Two of the more developed regions, Northern America and Australia and New Zealand increased their proportions of the world's female labor force.'2 As for the next 25 years, the long range projections for these parts of the world anticipate that women's activity rates will continue to in- crease (despite some decline in the cases of the younger and older age groups). "The. female labor force is expected to grow by nearly 50 million, or 2 million annually." II. THE GOAL OF EQUALITY As women's numbers in the labor force increase in almost all coun- tries, social policy with respect to women is stated in terms of equality: equal pay, equal opportunity for employment, equal rights in own- ership of property, equal rights in decisions about children and in- heritance, and equal rights in marriage and divorce. Although equality 12JT~Ø, "Womanpower," pp. 35-30. `2A study which Evelyne Sullerot did for the European Economic Community (EEC) and whose German edition is entitled "Die Erwerbstaetigkeit der Frauen und Ihre Probleme in den Mltgliedstaaten der Gemeinsehaft (Work Activity of Women and Their Problems in the Member States of the Community)" 8334, Luxembourg, no date (1970?) repeats for ~the then six member states of the community similar details. PAGENO="0283" 275 has not been achieved ~ everywhere, the goals are being set and dis- cussion, plans, reports, policy drafts, and actual legislation point in the direction of sex equality. Not all countries approach the attainment of these rights in the same way (indeed, one of the problems in comparing women's status in different countries arises precisely from the varying approaches arrd emphases on equal rights). Among all the efforts, we are here concerned only with questions of labor market equality. In narrowing our focus to these issues, we must be aware of the generality and range of the concern for total equality between the sexes. Because of the "climate" of trying to achieve equality of the sexes, working women tend to assume that while their reach may indeed exceed their immediate grasp, achievement of equality is not far off. However, one difficulty at this point is that equality for the most part is still defined in terms of women becoming equal to men in a labor market which has been organized by and for men. Let us try to make clear some of the factors making up a labor market where sex equality would prevail. The labor market in every country is that complex of institutions set up to hire, train, pay, transfer, retain, insure, dismiss, and retire workers. All the institutions carrying out these functions and all the norms .for success and compensation within them have been established to accommodate and to further the uninterrupted careers of men. But women have the children, and in every country they are assumed to carry the major responsibility for their care, at the very least for sev- eral years during the period of infancy. If a woman has several chil- dren, the period given over to gestation, birth, and early nurture may easily amount to a minimum of 6 to 10 years of her life. During this time she will in all probability completely interrupt her work life and devote herself exclusively to bearing and caring for her children. When a woman is ready to go back to work, she has been away from the labor market for a number of years. These years have probably been in her twenties and thirties, the very time when men with their un- interrupted work~ lives have customarily received on-the-job training and been selected for promotion. At the very least they have accumu- lated. several years of work. experience. T~ypically a women entering or reentering the labor market in her thirties finds few training or counseling opportunities. Apprentice- ship openings exist primarily for young people immediately out of school; refresher and on-the-job training are available mainly to per- sons in continuous employment; moreover, openings for initial train- ing are frequently restricted to the younger members of the work force. Women at the point of reentry, however, not only need help in training, they need counseling on career choices. As an ILO publica- tion reminds us, "It is necessary to insure that new possibilities and new methods of acquiring and updating skills are available to and uti- lized by [mature] women." 15This report refers to a study conducted in 1971 by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Develop- ment (OECD) in nine countries, including the United States, on the reentry problems of women,16 which noted that ~ See a discussion of this point in respect to equal pay by the author, "Equal Pay, Where Is It?" Industrial Relations (May 1975). ~ ILO, "Women Workers in a Changing World, Preliminary Report (Geneva: ILO, 1973), pp. 43-44. ~ Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, "Employment of Women" (Paris: OECD, 1971). PAGENO="0284" 276 The jobs reentry women found were largely confined to the traditional women's industries and occupations and to low-level work in industry, com- merce, retail trade, and other services.. . The need for counseling and vocational guidance was stressed, particularly in the, light of handicaps so many women suffer by bad or no vocatiOnal guidance early on. There was a need too to correct defects in `basic education, using properly timed classes or educational tele- vision. ~ As we examine othcr areas of our labor market practices. we will find similarly the need for greater consideration of women's special problems, largely related to their interrupted c~reer or worklife. All of these need rethinking and restructuring. The question is how to go about it. Federal legislation in the form of amendments to existing law and to some degree new laws is of course o.ne answer and one in which the Joint Economic Committee is partic-' ularly interested. Changes in attitudes on the part of men and women are equally important, however. In part, change will flow from the ever-rising level of public consciousness of the problems of women. This level rises with the increasing spread of information about women's changing role in the labor market, with the increasing num- ber of young couples dedicated to building marriages that arc genuine partnerships in raising children and homemaking as well as in earn- ihg, and with the growing understanding of the consequences of our commitment to equal opportunity for minorities a.s well as women in our social life. Social policy is a product of the "pull" of changing atti- tudes as well as the "push" of legislation; both will be required to bring about the changes needed in our labor market structure to insure women equal opportunity. We turn now to some of the specific programs which must be con- sidered and to ongoing experiments and experience in other countries with such programs. III. COMPENSATORY PROGRAMS FOR LABOR MARKET REENTRY AND TRAINING Women's double tasks `in society-child-bearing and child-caring on the one `hand and paid employment on the other-~as we have al- ready suggested, lead to differences in timing and needs in their work lives as compared to men. All the institutions of the labor market con- sequently need substantial restructuring if they are to meet women's needs. In the space available here, however, we will look only at three issues in the experience of other countries for suggestions of pro- grams adaptable to the needs of Americami women workers. These will be reentry and training as problems internal to the labor market. and child care as a support system for which the larger community will probably `take responsibility. The first'two are closely related aiid will be treated to some extent as a `single set of closely interconnected programs. The 1975 ILO conference in dealing with "Proposed Dechmration on Equality of Opportunity and Treatment for Women Workers" stated "that all efforts must be made to provide every worker, without ~ ILO, "Women Workers," pp. 4~-45. PAGENO="0285" 277 distinction on grounds of sex, with equality of opportunity and treat- ment in all social, cultural, economic, civil and political fields." As for the special problems related to reentry, article 5, section (5) of this document reads: Special measures shall be taken to facilitate the continuing education and training of women on the same basis as men to provide retraining facilities for them, especially during and after periods of absence from the labour force. (italics added) Section (3) also to this point reads, Measures shall be taken to urge institutes of vocational guidance and train- ing to help and to encourage girls and women to make full use of available ori- entation, guidance and training facilities and to choose and enter all occupations freely including those hitherto reserved in practice for men.'8 Education, training and counseling are the key services which women need if their reentry is to be other than a chance event. Educa- tion may well mean providing for the completion of a program which was interrupted by marriage, early unskilled employment, or child- bearing. It also means structuring the content of primary and secondary education to prepare young women for the probability that they will work. Although this work n'iay be disjointed and interrupted, basic attitudinal and skill training is essential in the the school and immediately thereafter to make later work rewarding and promising. We will not here go into the efforts being made in many countries to clean up school texts of sexist pictures, stories and references, as well as to institute curriculum changes, so that prevocational training and counseling are undifferentiated for boys and girls.1° Training includes off-the-job and pre-job programs as well as on-the- job and released time opportunities. Counseling, usually in the hands of the labor office or a specific labor market board or employment service, has to do with testing women applicants, advising them of training as well as job opportunities, and-most desirable-~-keeping open the possibility of ongoing contact with the applicant as a followup on training and placement. The 1975 ILO Report on "The Equality of Opportunity and Treat- ment of Women Workers" calls attention to the close interrelation- ships of education, training and employment and notes that we know in fact all too little about these complex matters. It recommends that studies in this area be undertaken to provide the facts to- 18 Minutes of ILO Conference, 1975, "Proposed Declaration on Equality of Opportunity and Treatment for Women Workers," 89/11. `~ See in this connection for Sweden, Ingrid Fredricsson. "Sex Roles and Education in Sweden.' New York University Education Quarterly (1972?) Lars Kjellberg, "Choice of Education and Sex Roles," speech to vocational guidance teachers, AKN Information, No. 2 (March 1971) Gunilla Bradley, "Kvinnan och Karriaren. En Studie av Kvinnors Befordingsinteresse i Relation Till Arbetstillfredstallel Hemmiljo och Skolutbildning," Pa Radet. Meddelande, Nr. 64 (Stockholm, 1972). (Women and Careers, a Study of Women's Interests In Advancement in Relation to Available Training, Correspondence Courses and Extension Programs.) For Germany. Maria Borris. "Die Benachteiligung der Maedchen in Schulen tier Bundes- republik und Westberlin" (Europaeische Verlagsanstalt, 1972) (Disadvantagement of Girls in the Schools of the Federal Republic and West Berlin). For Austria. Dorothea Gaudart, Wolfgang Schulz. "Maedchenbildnng, Wozum" Oester- reichischer Bundesverlag fuer Unterricht, Wissenschaft, und Kunst (Vienna, 1971) (Girls' Education-What for? Austrian Federal Press for Education, Culture, and Art) Henrik Kreutz and Grete Fernechuss, "Chancen der Weiterbildung: Soziologische Untersuchung zur Maedchenbildung in Oesterreich." Oestereichisches Bundesverlag fimer T3nterricht, Bildung. mind Kunst (Chances for Further Education: A Sociological Study of Girls' Edis- cation in Austria (Vienna, 1971), Austrian Federal Press for Education. Culture, and Art). For Australia, reports of the School's Commission. "Girls. Schools and Society" (Can- berra: Australian Government Publishing Service, November 19751. See also International Womens Year Report of the Australian Advisory Committee. section on "Education " pp. 74-76 (Canberra: Australian Government Publishing Service, 1975). PAGENO="0286" 278 help to change attitudes both toward girls' education and training and toward their employment and might clarify some of the more puzzling aspects of their integration into and contribution to economic and social life. They might also hell) society in general to decide how much waste of educated manpower it can tolerate. They might also show how returns on women's education and training could he increased by better occupational distribution and integration of women in the work force.~° All too often counseling `and training are available to women on the assumption that they will best find employment in the segregated women's labor market where low wages, low skills, and low promo- tiona.l ceilings are the rule.2' To counteract this history of sex-biased employment services and to meet the needs of women reentering a labor market of equal oppor- tunity, a number of programs are of considerable inte.rest for the United States. We turn now to them. IV. EXPERIENCE ABROAD IN REENTRY AND TRAINING A. Austria In 1968 Austria adopted a vocational promotion law (Xrbeit.sfoer- dertrngsgesetz) and set up Economic Promotion Institutes and Voca- tional Promotion Institutes to carry out. its purposes.22 Its general pur- poses were to assist all persons with their original choice of occupation and to retrain for change of occupation necessary to find work; to assist in maintaining work and training facilities; to assist employers in finding needed workers and to relate training fac.ilities to the chang- ing structure of the labor market.. The law further provided for grants to assist persons needing training, to maintain work places and to balance out short-term rise and fall in employment. Men and women. it should be noted, were to have equal opportunity to use the. assistance offered under the law.23 In 1972 the number of men receiving assistance was slightfv higher than the number of women. In 1973 and 1974. more women than men took advantage of these provisions-55 and 54 percent. respec- tively. In 1975, however, women's participation dropped decidedly to 40 percent.24 The law provides both for training in courses outside work (mainly in buildings provided by the individual states with the assistance of the Chambers of Labor) as well as on-the-job training. Women repre- sented respectively 46 percent., 48 percent. and 44 percent. of the en- rollees in short-term off-the-job programs in 1973, 1974, and 197.5. and 20 "Equality of Opportunity and Treatment of Women Workers." report VIII. Interna- tional Labor Conference, 60th session (1975). p. 30. ~` See in this connection the amazingly thorough and recent study in Austria by Dr. Doro- thea Gaudart of the Ministry for Social Affairs. Zugang von Maedchen und Frai~en zu technischen Berufen: Beitrag Oesterreichs zu einer auf internationaler Ehene gesteilten Frage (Access of Girls and Women to the Technical Occupations: an Austrian Contribu- tion to a Question Raised at International Levels (UNESCO)), Oesterreichischer Dundee- verlag fuer Unterricht, Wissenschaft. und Kunst (Vienna.1975). The original UNESCO study entitled "Comparative Study on Access of Girls and Women to Technical and Vocational Education," document ED/MD/3 appeared Dec. 20. 1968 (Paris, UNESCO, 1968). The original law was adopted somewhat earlier, hut the provisions with which we are concerned date from 1968 with amendments in 1969 and 1974. ~ Bericht ueber die Situation cler Frau in Oesterreich. Frauenbericht. 1975. Heft 5. `Die Frau im Beruf." Bundeskanzleramt (Report on the Situation of Women in Austria. Womene Report, 1975, sec. 5. "The Woman at Work") (Vienna. 1975), pp. 74-75. 2-t Bundesministerium fuer Soziale Verwaltung. "Die Situation der Frail aufdem o~eter reichischen Arbeitsnaarkt. Beteilung der Frau an den Foerderungsmassnahmen aije M itt~ln der Arbeitsmarktfoerderung" (Federal Ministry for Social Affairs. "The Situation of the Women an the Austrian Labor Market. Participation of the Woman in the Promotional Measures Financed by Labor Market Promotion") (Vienna, Mar. 29, 1976). PAGENO="0287" 279 71 percent, 70 percent, and 34 percent in on-the-job programs for the same years. It was thus primarily the shortfall in on-the-job training in the depression year of 1975 that accounted for the sharp drop in women's participation in training. Moreover, in Vienna, where women's participation rate in the `labor force has risen steadily since 1971 and was 44.2 percent in. 1975, women's participation contrary to the rest of the country showed an increase in both programs. In the city, women have made up a majority of enrollees from 1971 onward. The exact figures are shown in table 3. TABLE 3.-Enrollment of Vienna women in training programs under the 1968 Austrian vocational promotion law Percent of women Year: . enroUe~1 1971 53 1972 51 1973 59 1974 54 1975 56 In two other provinces, the rise in women's participation in the training programs was even greater.25 The law specifically provides that females are a category of workers who shall receive special consideration from the institutes where age, pregnancy, and responsibility for care of other family members are factors. Such women have priority in admission to training programs of all types as well as in opportunities to try out on jobs. Their prior- ity extends as well to grants-in-aid of schooling, cost of maintaining themselves during training and continuation for their social insurance over these periods.20 In addition, the institutes make a special effort to familiarize older women, through a course `set up. as an "Information Week," with real- istic appraisals of work opportunities and to carry on counseling programs especially designed to bring them into occupations where employment opportunities exist. These courses include lecture series on such matters as labor law, social insurance, and the provisions of the labor promotion law of which they can take advantage. All the costs during training-travel, costs of attending the. courses, and the midday meal-are provided. The Vienna Labor Office, which has been particularly active in setting up these "Information ~`Veeks" for house- wives, reported in 1972 that 625 women had. registered for the three programs which they had offered and they had accepted 374. Shortly thereafter the Office could report that 71 had taken further training, 164 had been referred to employment and 74 had almost immediately found work. All but 41 had previously worked in either blue-collar or white-collar employment. (About one-third were ready to go to work at' once if they could find work and 216 were hoping to get work within the upcoming year. Forty-four of them sought further coun- seling; the remainder would take either work or training?7 This ex- periment was particularly interesting because the office made a spe- cial effort to recruit women who were 40 years and older (220 of the 374 women were born `before 1931). 25 Ibid SG Ibid ~ Landesarbeltsamt Wien. "Informationswochen fuer Hausfrauen" ("Information Weeks for Housewives") (Vienna City Labor Office, 1972), mimeographed, pp. 3-4. PAGENO="0288" 280 A policy report issued by the Council for Economic and Social Questions 27a in 1974 concluded with a series of recommendations on social policy respecting the special concerns of women. With regard to reentry it recommended in part: The organization of special courses fOr further training, retraining, and re- fresher courses for women who have been away from the labor market for lengthy periods. Special support for women who have interrupted apprenticeships or schooling because of child~bearing.n Austria is a country in which women's work opportunities are fairly limited to the traditional female occupations and a country which is by no means well off, as compared with some of its neigh- bors-Germany or Switzerland. Nevertheless, within these limits, it has constructed a workable program in response to the needs of wom- en to help in reentry, training, and counseling at that point That the program's recruitment and counseling Operate on the assumption that women will go into traditional occupations is a point which a number of Austrian leaders themselves criticize and regret. The thorough detailed and careful attention that has been given to women's role in Austrian society and to their place in the labor market provides grounds for hope that the reentry and training program can and will be adapted into equal opportunity policy in the labor market. B. Awstralia Although Australia is only now beginning to establish nondiscrimi- natory standards for the employment of women, it began several years ago to provide special schemes for assisting the growing number of adult women reentering the labor force.. So far as training for women reentering the labor force, a govermuent report on "Women in Em- ployment" correctly notes- The Australian Government has been reluctant to establish subsidised train- ing schemes, and slow to promote the schemes it has established; two, however, are of particular significance: 1. Widow Pensioners Training Scheme run by the Department of Social Service, 2. Employment Training Scheme for women restricted by domestic re- sponsibilities, run by the Department of Labour and National Service.n The first scheme for widows provides full- or part-time training lead- ing to employment, generally at a. business or technical college. During training the widow continues to receive her pension plus A$4.OO mother's allowance, plus A$4.50 per child. or if she has no dependent children a maximum of A$15.25 plus A$4.OO per week training al- lowance. The Government pays her fees, fares, and books to the value 27a The Council for Economic and Social Questions, an advisory group which carries considerable weight, is made up of representatives from government, business, labor, trade unions, and the private sector. . 23 Beirat fuer Wirtschafts und Sozialfragen, "Frauenbesehaeftigung in Oesterreich' (Vienna, 1974) (Council for Economic and Social Questions, "Women's Employment in Austria" (Vienna. 1974), pp. 123-124. (Translation by the author.) ~° Equal Pay Committee, Women's Center, "Women in Employment" (Melbourne. 3uly 1972), mimeographed. p. 20. The official description of the scheme is contained in a pamphlet issued by the Commonwealth Employment Service, National Employment and Training Scheme (NEAT), "National Employment and Training System." undated. Similar aid is available to males "not recently in regular civilian employment through military service, sickness or physical incapacity, or imprisonment," as well as those "who have lost their jobs as a result of factors like tariff cuts or technological changes or other causes of redundancy, structural adjustment In an industry, or scarcity of work in the area of residence. * * *" PAGENO="0289" 281 of A$80.00.2~ In 1970-71 some 4 percent of widows or 3,574 were en- rolled in classes. The second scheme is open to married and single women, so long as they have been unable to accept employment for a number of years because of domestic responsibilities and have not been regularly em- ployed during the preceding 2 years for more than 26 weeks. Training is approved for any occupation in which employment exists locally. Normally training is not expected to exceed 3 months. Women in this scheme are not subsidized, although they receive a maximum of $80 to cover fees, fares and books. By October 1973, 13,840 applications had been received for these schemes and 7,661 approved; 4,109 had completed training.'0 The authors of this report call attention to several shortcomings of the schemes. One of these is that women who need training and have small children find it hard to take advantage of the program without available child care facilities. Both schemes, they also note, fail "to challenge the stereotyped ideas of suitable women's work, by refusing to provide training in areas where women are not usually employed." In May 1974 before the Australian Labour government was forced out of office, the Labour Minister, Clyde Cameron, set up a Committee of Inquiry into labour market training. It is worth quoting from the section of this Committee's report analyzing the needs of women: The committee recognizes that many women are anxious and uncertain about re-entering employment after a period of absence. Previously learned skills may be out-~if-date or obsolete and may not, in any case, match career aspirations. The majority of women entering existing training schemes are between 30 and 49 years of age. Many will have been absent from the work force for 10 years ~r more. They may need help in assessing their aptitudes and abilities, in deciding between various career possibilities, in techniques of job search and application and in obtaining the remedial education and training to help over- come earlier short-comings. Work. familiarisation, refresher training and bridg- ing courses might also be needed in some circumstances. Similar forms of assist- ance are also likely to be needed by others seeking to overcome disadvantages. Training cannot of itself solve all of the problems which continue to beset women in the work force. * * `* [However] as opportunities for training and retraining are extended to cover a wider range of occupations, the traditional concentration of women into a narrow band of "female" occupations will be broken down. * [Not only employers and trade unions, huti ~vomen themselves must be persuaded to consider seeking training for jobs beyond such customary areas as office work, retailing, catering, nursing, clothing and textiles.~' As is true of many other countries, Australia has not yet formulated what one economist calls "an active manpower policy," and among many other questions has not faced up to "what labour force participa- tion rate is appropriate for secondary workers such as married 29a The Australian dollar is currently worth approximately $US1.1O. `° These ficures were given the author by Christine Cunningham of the Melbourne office of the Department of Labour, in a mimeographed document entitled "Employment Training Scheme for Women, Cumulative Statistics to Oct. 30. 1973." Prof. John Niland, then of the Australian National University estimated from data made available to him by the Denartment of Labour in April 1973 that 1,217 women were enrolled at that time. On a visit to Australia In August 1976, I learned that this scheme, initiated by the Labour Government, is no longer being funded by Its successor Liberal Government. The scheme is nevertheless `worth knowing about and Australian women's organizations are pressing for its reactivation. The authors of the evaluation report to some extent foresaw this develop- ment when they wrote, "Both schemes were introduced in times of an economic boom Since eligibility for both schemes depends on women's willingness and ability to enter the work force after training, In `the current situation of increasing unemployment, we may expect to see a tapering off of. the schemes." Equal Pay Committee, ibid., p. 21. zi Australian Department of Labour. "Australian Labor Market Trainine." report of:the Committee of Inquiry Into Labour Market Training (Canberra: Australian Government Publishing Service 1974) pp 34-36 91-656-77-19 PAGENO="0290" 282 females." ~ Until it does, its training schemes will continue to have an uncertain existence. £7. Federal Republic of Gerima~iy In May 1969 Germany adopted the Employment Promotion Act (Arbeits foerderungsgesetz) to replace its earlier law on placement and unemployment insurance. In effect this shifted the emphasis of its policy and its administrative agency, the Federal Employment Insti- tute (Bundesanstalt fuer Arbeit) from mainly providing compensa- tion and employment service to the unemployed to utilizing a con- siderable array of powers and functions to anticipate and prevent unemployment. The Federal Institute stimulates the mobilisation of latent labour reserves, the employment of older employees in the country, as well as the continuation of building work during the winter. * According to demand it places employees from abroad. In addition, giving clue consideration to the adaption of skills required by technical progress, it takes measures to maintain the labour force, to improve its qualifications and foster vocational fiexibility.~' As a result of the Act, employees both male and female are offered three types of vocational training programs, including the possibility of training subsidies for persons qualifying for admission to the program. Training programs had, of course, existed before 1969, but the nature of this act was such that within the first year the participa- tion rate of women in training rose by 50 percent.34 The three types of vocational programs are: 1. Promotion of Vocational Advanced Training and Retraining for Individuals: includes measures by which vocational knowledge and skill are assessed, main- tained and extended or adapted to technical development, or which offer possi- bilities of professional advancement. Vocational retraining makes a necessary vocational re-orientation possible ~ ° ~. It is based on particular aptitude, incli- nation and willingness of the trainee, as well as consideration of the situation and trends of the labour market. 2. Vocational Training Incentives for Institutions. The Institute grants sub- sidies to already existing or new training establishments * * ~ including bodies responsible for external training centers (Chambers of Trade, Guilds, Employers' Organizations, Welfare Associations, etc.). 3. IncentIves to Enter Employment. These are extended to remove financial limitations which are obstacles to taking up employment desirable from the point of view of the labor market or for soclo-political reasons or which make entry in a vocational training establishment impossible. Grants may cover transitional expenses of the applicant and his family until payment of his first full wage or salary, removal expenses, resettlement allowances for job- seekers otherwise difficult to place, the cost of equipment.n Under the last heading I have learned from interviews with officials of the Institute that subsidies may also bepaid in diminishing amounts over a year or so to encourage the employment of women or other dis- advantaged and unskilled persons while they learn on the job. The subsidy represents the difference between the full scale paid for the "John Niland, "Some Problems Facing an Active Manpower Policy in Australia," paper delivered before the Australian and New Zealand Association for the Advancement of Science 45th Congress, Perth, Aug. 13-17, 1973). Mimeographed. - 23 The Federal Employment Institute, "The. Employment Office" (Nuremherg, 19 a). p. 7. `~Monika Langkau-Herrmanfl and ~ochem Longkau, "Der berufliche Aufslaeg der Frau: ~~~~itsmarktstrategien zur verstaerkten Integration der Frau in die Arbeits-und Berufs- welt," Forschungsberichte des Landes Nordrhein-WeStPhafla, Nr. 2232. ("The vocational Advancement of Women: Labor Market Strategies To Intensify the Integration of Women in the World of Careers and Work."~ Study reports of the state of North Rhine-Westfalla, No. 2232.) WestdeutsCher Verlag, Opladen, 1972, p. 32. (Translation by the author.) `~ "The Employment Office," pp. 40-42. PAGENO="0291" 283 job and the actual production of the worker which over time approaches and reaches the standard norm. Women have participated in the three programs in varying degrees. They made up only one in seven of the enrollees in the advanced train- ing programs; one in five of those in reorientation, but one in three of those taking incentives to enter employment. More blue-collar women proportionately took advantage of this last program, while white-collar workers and civil servants were more active in advanced training programs. (Men in all three occupational categories were primarily interested in advanced training-some 87 percent of all male enrollees in training programs). In general the women who participated were younger than the men, and the younger the women, the more interest they had in courses preparing for advancement.36 In the case of female blue-collar workers, desire for training increased with age; the reverse was true of white-collar women-the younger they were, the more interest they had in training.~~ Women preferred the short-term training programs, whereas men preferred the longer courses. Women concentrated their vocational interests in three fields: office work, textiles and clothing, and health. Men exhibited no such concentration of vocational aspirations.38 The law permits the Federal Employment Institute to reimburse participants in the first type of programs at 90 percent of earned in- come, as well as for a subsistence allowance which is regularly ad- justed to the general rise in wages and salaries. The Federal Institute also hears part or all of the cost of the course, learning aids, travel expenses, the cost of work clothes, accommodation (if participation in a course requires living away from home), health and accident insurance and; other inevitable expenses. Employers may be granted adaptation subsidies if they provide employees with the necessary vocational knowledge and skill for the attainment of full efficiency at their jobs.89 In an address before the International Research Conference in 1972; the pi esident of the Feder'Ll Employment Institute discussed the prob- lem he saw in the underrepresentation of women in. the group of trainees. He attributed it to the lack of sufficient course offerings to satisfy women's needs forinstruction. As a consequence women mainly took advantage of the support in entering employment program He saw this program as of considerable help to women but commented critically that it is in the rule too much bound to work place and firm., When the given job no longer exists the training received on it is frequently insufficient to enable the worker to take on a new occupation, particularly if she, as is often the case,, has. no other vocational training.~° 3° Langkau-Herman and Langkau, op. cit., p. 32. ~ LUIS Toppe, "Beschaeftigungsmoegllchkeiten und Probleme der Frauenerwerbsarbeit," Vortrag vor dem Bundesfrauenausschuss der I. G. Metall, 26.11.74. Bundesanstalt fuer Arbeit. ("Employment Possibilities and Problems of Women at Work," lecture before the Metal Trades Union's Women's CommIttee, Nov. 26, 1974. Institute for Employment), mimeographed, p. 18. 38 Langkau-Herman and Langkau, op. cit., p.. 32. 3~ "The Employment Office," op. cit., p. 40. 48 Bundesanstalt fuer Arbelt. Der Praesident, "Struktur und Entwicklung. der Frau- eneruerbslaellgleit in der Bundesrepublik Deutschlands: Folgerungen fuer `die soziale Sleher- heit," Konzept des. Vortrages fuer die Internationale Forscbungskonf~renz, "Die Frau in der sozialen Sicherheit," vols. 2-4, November 1972 in Wien. (The president, Federal Em- ployment Institute, "Structure and.Development of Women'sWork In the Federal Republic of Germany: Consequences forSoclal $ecurity," a lecture beforethe~ International Research Conference, "Women and Social SecurIty'~ (Vienna, Nov. 2~-4, 197~), p~ 22. PAGENO="0292" 284 Interviews I have had with women trade union leaders and with -working women themselves in Germany confirm the foregoing analy- sis, but they usually go further in suggesting that the program is on the whole ill-adapted to times and places where women can readily attend, often being held in full-day session in towns other than the place of residence. These are circumstances which women with small children often find difficult to deal with.4' This German experience raises the question of whether training programs of these }dnds should be specially designed for the older woman rather than simply opening to her existing programs designed on terms which men can more easily adjust to and meet. Of more than passing interest is the fact that the union of white- collar workers, Deutsche Angestellten Gewerkschaft, has for many years carried on training programs for its members and prospective members in office skills. About 5 years ago, its research department undertook a study of the special needs of women returning to work in this field after a considerable absence.42 The purpose of the study was to organize a curriculum which would allow these women to study systematically for their successful reemployment. The resulting cur- riculum covered five fields: economic a.nd social theory, office organiza- tion and data processing, accounting and bookkeeping, German its written use, shorthand and typing. Each of these was planned for 40 teaching hours, except that the second (office organization and data processing) covered 80 teaching hours. This curriculum was to be introduced into the already existing schools which the trade union maintains in major German cities to offer its members opportunities to extend their competence and improve their skills. The emphasis here, however, is on the special group of re- entry women. In a handbook developed for this purpose. directors of these schools as well as teachers in them are reminded of the special difficulties that older women face who have been out of their occupa- tion for some time, who have probably had inadequate vocational training in their youth, whose skills are rusty or who are unfamiliar with new machines and processes. Aèertain lack of self-confidence has to be overcome. . . . Women today find them- selvesJn a difficult and conflicting position. On the one hand their help is needed in the economy, iand they are sought for; on the other band, they may he filled with guilt feelings about working and attempting at the same time to handle their roles as wives and mothers. In a curriculum whose purpose is to re-integrate women into work life, these problems `have to be considered. . . . These problems have to be dealt with not only intellectually but these women have to receive practical help in confronting and overcoming their conflict situations.43 Thus, the German institutions concerned with reintegration at re- entry positions are not limited to agencies of the labor market but in- clude trade unions as well as employer-designed programs. 4' Among the powers and resources of the institute are those permitting it to finance child care centers at workplaces where women are employed and to provide child care costs for women at work or In training. While these have been used, they are often insufficient to meet the needs of women in short-term training. Child care may not be available at any price in a trainee's home locality nor at a center set up to deal mainly with younger. unmarried workers. Subsidies for travel are often not a woman's greatest need. but rather her problem may be findinc the time free from household responsibilities to travel and train. 42 Cf. Deutsche Angesteliten Gewerkschaft (DAG), Wiedereingliederung weiblicher Ance- steilten in das Berufsleben, DAG Forschungstelle. Hamburg. Dezember 1972 (Reinterratioa of Female Office Employees In work Life, Research Office, DAG (Hamburg, December1972). 4' IbId., pp. 35-36. PAGENO="0293" 285 D. Sweden After intensive debate in the 1960's Sweden accepted a national com- mitment to equality as the lodestar of social policy. Equality came to be defined so as to govern all social relationships of human beings- equality of men and women, rich and poor, old and young, handi- capped and healthy.44 With their usually thorough discussion and planning, the Swedes began as early `as 1965 to move to abolish discrimination in the labor market with the decision that women's wages should be equal to those of men. The more subtle and underlying inequalities arising from the working women's double burden were also considered and year by year the Government has undertaken to deal with their many aspects. Here we are concerned only with the solutions put forward to prob- lems of reentry and training. The planning began with a decision of the Labour Market Board to cease aggressive recruiting of foreign work- ers in favor of the the promotion of employment for married Swedish women seeking to enter the labor market. A study of low incomes showed that a very significant majority of persons in this category were women, and follow-up investigations demonstrated that the rea- son so many women were low-wage earners was their lack of training as well as the general lack of training opportunities for adults entering the labor market in their thirties. A ,Joint Female Labour Council (Arbetsmarknadens Kvinnonamnd) had been established in 1951 following a "Report of the Study Group on Female Labour" set up in 1948. WhiTe closely associated wtih the Labour Market Board, it was a quite independent and separate insti- tution founded by the two major labor federations and the employers' confederation. Its task, among others, was- to watch official measures affecting women in the labour market, in order to influ- ence these measures `to be formed in a way that suits the women, the families and the labour market, [and to deal chiefly with matters concerning] equality between the sexes, care of children, vocational training of women, part-time work, user service, consumer information, simplified h,omework.4a Laboi~ market policy as developed by the Board under the strong in- fluence of the council has been summed up as follows: [It] may he said to have two functions, to assist the effective working `of the labour `market and to improve the prospects of employment, when necessary by measures aimed at creating jobs.. . . Expenditure on labour market policy has in- creased rapidly . . . Retraining has also been made available to skilled persons already in employment who wish to change to a field where there is a shortage of labour or where there is a prospect of higher earnings. Another important task of retraining is to bring persons not at present gainfully employed into the market. These are mainly housewives, older persons. . . and those suffering from physical handicaps . . . Allowances are paid to those undergoing retraining and their numbers have increased, very rapidly, from about 11,000 in 1960 to 90,000 in 1968, the latter figure being some 2 percent of the total `labour force.46 ~ These views are most thoroughly stated in a report of the Swedish Socialist Party and Trade Unions' Committee on Equality, Stockholm, Prisma, 1972, "Jamlikhet-allas delta- gande I arbetsliv och politik," and, so far as women are concerned, in the Swedish report to the United Nations, "The Status of Women In Sweden" (Stockholm: Swedish Institute, 1968). They are further elucidated in an address by then Prime Minister Olof Palme, "The Emancipation of Man," delivered to the Women's National Democratic Club, Washington, D.C., June 5, 1970. Two hooks important in bringing about practical programs for sex equality were Edmund Dahlstrom, editor, "The Changing Roles of Men and Women" (Lon- don: Duckworth, 1967) ; and Bergitta Linner, "Sex and Society in Sweden" (New York: Harper& Row, 1967, 1972). ~ The Joint Female Labour Council, "Translation Into English of ANN Information," No. 3/1971 (March 1971), p. 1. With the retirement of its chairwoman, Anna-Lisa Laghy in 1973 the Council went out of existence and its work was assumed by the Labour Market Board. ~° Marie and Christian Norgren, "Industrial Sweden" (Stockholm: The Swedish Insti- tute, 1971), pp. 37-48. PAGENO="0294" 286 iit 1970, 42,000 women were enrolled, making up 53.0 percent of the `~trainees, a.nd in 1971, 45,500 women made up 48.4 percent of all train- ~ees. Although the number of women trainees rose to 68,000 in 1972~ a much greater increase in the number of male trainees (in all probabil- ity a consequence of a turn in the business cycle) kept the percentage of women around 45 percent of the total.47 Within the last 4 years, the number of women trainees has remained fairly constant but has repre- sented `an increasing proportion of the total as the number of men in training has declined. Thus, in the first quarter of 1975, some 53 per- cent of those entering training were women.48 In a report sent by the National Manpower Committee to the OECD lii 1973, it was noted that- This labour, market training has proved an effective means of training and ac- tivating middle-aged women with little basic education who have previously been employed at home and would otherwise have had to choose between the worst- paid routine jobs or unemployment. (Seventy-five to eighty. percent of labour market trainees find work within 3 months of completing their training.) 48a `Parts of the Swedish system for training and retaining adult work- ers include a wide range of grants and services. Persons eligible for `training include those who are unemployed, handicapped, and employed.in industries which under an "early warn- ing system" indicate `to `the Government that they `are obsolescing. Housewives wishing to go to work report at `their local Labor Office and are enrolled as unemployed. This entitles them to `nnemployment ben~fits and `to counseling `and testing services. The result of these services `usually is Teferral to training programs, for which a number of `training grants and `other `grants-in-aid are available during the training period. These include a basic allowance and a housing allow- ance to cover the cost of maintaining a residence during the `training period. In addition, a family allowance is provided covering spouse and children under .16. `Special grants are paid for travel, course fees, instructional material, and working clothes. Child care facilities may be worked out between the Labor Market Board and the local towii authorities with the Board bearing child care costs.49 A transfer allowance is available for those having to move outside their residential area in order to find work. This covers free travel for self and spouse `to The employment interview and a per diem allowance while'seeking `emplqyment, plus a separation allowance payable until a family dwelling has been found in the new place of work or for a maximum `of `12 months. Further, there is an an allowance covering removal costs including traveling costs for the family and an equip- nient allowance in the new residence. In some cases, mainly in thinly populated rural areas, the Board will even purchase an owner-occupied house in order `to permit the worker to leave an area where he or she cannot find work to go to one where work is available.50 ~7 Manpower and Social Affairs Committee, "The Role of Women in the Economy,' national report: Sweden. (Paris: Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), Sept. 13, 1973).'Mimeographed. (MO (73) 13/18), p. 24. ~ Interview, Nov. 2, .1976, with Mrs. Ingeborg Jonsson, section chief, Women's Work, National Labour Market Board, Stockholm. 48a Manpower and Social Affairs Committee. Overall, the experience is that a higl1er per- centage of women than of men complete the training programs. See also "Women in Sweden In the Light of Statistics," Joint Labor Female Council, 1971. p. 23. ~` ILO, Commission on the Status of Women, "Scientific and Technical Progress anfi Its Effect on the Conditions of Work and Employment of Women," 23d session. Jan. 20. 1970. ~° "Women and the Labour Market, Prejudices, Facts, Future." National Labour Market Board of Sweden (1970). See also "Swedish Labour Market Policy in a Nutshell. 1972/73. For our foreign readers, Arbetsmarknadsstyrelsen (National Labour Market Board), Stockholm. No date. PAGENO="0295" 287 The training program operates throughout the country under a decentralized administration managed by a system of 24 regional offices and about 230 local offices.5' The Labour Market Board itself operates very few training programs; instead, it enters into coopera- tive agreements with public and private agencies prepared to under- take training and retraining. These may be schools and colleges with 4-year curricula, but are more often institutions offering longer or shorter specific vocational training. (Five months appear to represent a usual period of training.) In Stockholm alone, no less than 178 institutions are available for use by the board. Some courses are con- ducted daytimes, some may be taken part-time in the evening or during the day; some are residential and many of these are in the folk high schools.52 Some are conducted in the business enterprises. Actual training for older women is usually and desirably preceded by a 4- to 6-week introductory course which includes a week in a workplace. This program is meant particularly to prepare women for reentry into the labor market and includes information on trades and places where work is `available.~3 In the early years recruitment to the reentry program was aided by "activation inspectors," special officers appointed "to coordinate activation work for non-employed women and middle-aged and elderly labour." These officers were lo- cated in 20 of the regional headquarters of the Board to direct and advise the local offices of the region.54 Women's long history of playing a secondary role in the home and labor market, of entering the labor market late by male standards, of being assumed to be satisfied with low skilled, low paid jobs with low promotional ceilings combines to put them in the category of the most needy and least self-confident. The Labor Market Office carries the responsibility for affirmative action in counselling women on the full range of occupations, including those traditionally reserved to men.55 One aspect of this effort is that the labor office endeavors to persuade employers seeking workers to accept women rather than recruiting foreign workers.56 For example, in 10 towns in 1972 experiments were also going on in an attempt to reach persons most needing education and training rather than the ones who were most active. This is being done on the assumption that persons with initiative and who are used to activity and have a certain amount of self-confidence will take steps to get themselves into training courses and will, generally, push ahead. It is the most needy often who have little self-confidence and can do very little for themselves in this as in other respects. Hence the experiment was an attempt to reach these people and to see what incentives can be successfully used to bring them into educational and training activities.57 ~ "Swedish Employment Policy" (Stockholm: National Labour Market Board, i971), p.4. ~ B. N. Seear, "Reentry of Women Into the Labour Market After an Interruption In Employment" (Paris: Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, i97i), pp. 77-78. (Persons who completed compulsory education under the old law which required only 7 years, often find themselves disadvantaged as adults competIng with youth who have had 9 years or more of basic education. It is possible for these adults to make up this lack in public evening schools or by attending regular school programs, for which they are eligible.) ~ Author's interview with Anna-Lisa Lagby, then director of the Joint Labour Female Council, Oct. ii, i972. Stockholm. ~ Seear, op. cit, p. 72. A study of the etFect of this policy is now in progress under the direction of Prof. Rita LiljestrØm of the University of Gothenberg. She has published the results of a pilot study clone in Kristianstad County in three municipalities, "Sex Roles in Transition," a report on a pilot program in Sweden, Advisory Council to the Prime Minister on Equality Between Men and Women (Stockholm: Swedish Institute, i975). ~° interview with Ms. Aim, Labor Market Board, Stockholm, Oct. 10, 1972. ~ interview with Prof. Per Holmberg, University of Stockholm, Nov. 5, i972. PAGENO="0296" 288 As a result, During the past year [1074] when 70,000 women entered the labour market, 15,000 of them were engaged for what used to be regarded as typically male jobs. The writer notes an important byproduct of this effort: In many cases the working environment as a result has been improved for all workers in the companies.58 In addition, other measures which the Labour Ministry and Labour Market Board employed include: The creation of a substantial number of new positions in the public employment offices whose incumbents are responsible exclusively for improving the provision of good job opportunities for women. and Measures have been undertaken to counteract the traditional division of male and female occupations. Oompanies that are being established or expanded in regions where `there is a shortage of employment opportunities can be granted government loans and subsidies only if they recruit at least 40% of each sex.~9 At the point of launching the program for women the scheme for spreading information included a national conference of the chief officers of the unions and the Employers' Association to which 700 persons came. In addition, a series of programs on national television entitled "The Housewife Changes Her Occupation" (Hemmafru byter yrke) accompanied "comprehensive information on labour mar- ket and social matters at conferences arranged by local labor boards for women, employers aiid employee organizations." 60 To some degree many countries have recognized both in policy and practice that women reentering the labor force in their mature years need counseling, guidance and training for which the normal labor market institutions are insufficiently prepared. The degree to which new institutions or extensions of established services will be made available to these women will undoubtedly depend on the overall employment policy. If women are sought and encouraged to go to work simply in the traditional women's occupations~ a few scattered short-term schemes may fully respond to the need for training in office work, health occupations, and semiskilled assembly line jobs in production. The underlying expectation will `be that few women will expect to move into the men's labor market, and they will not be "acti- vated" to do so. Only where a genuine commitment to equality exists, as it doe.s in Sweden, will the political parties, the unions, the em- p]oyers and the officials of the labor market institutions initiate a thorough program designed to bring women into all sectors of em- ployment. With this commitment as a ba.se, every adjustment will be made in the employment offices and through the range of training facilities to encourage women to move into all the occupations and to train all those who elect to work there and can be employed with the given training. V. EXPERIENCE ABROAD IN CHILD CARE In 1972-73, when I interviewed working mothers in the nine coun- tries I visited, they almost uniformly said that the help they would most like to have in easing their doitbie burden of home and work re- ~S Anna-Greta Leijon, "Sexual Equality in the Labor Market: Some Experiences and Vio~'s of the Nordic Countries," International Labor Review, 112: 2-3 (August-September 1975), p. 114. ~° Ibid. ~° Seear, op. cit., p. 76. PAGENO="0297" 289 sponsibilities was child care. By this they meant not only care for pre- school children, but for children of school age before and after school hours, during holidays and vacations and for children when they are ill. The response was the same whether I was talking with women heads of families, or with women whose huSbands were present in the home; it was the same whether the husbands assisted them with housework and child care or whether they did not. The conclusion must be that when both parents of young children work, the family needs assistance with the care of its children. A second factor which becomes clear the deeper one delves into the question of making child care available to working mothers is that good quality child care cannot be cheap; indeed it is necessarily so ex- pensive that parents cannot bear its costs unassisted. The conclusion is that child care must be subsidized, either by public or private bodies. In many countries child care has historically been the concern of voluntary agencies and the governments have only provided aid and programs during periods of national stress-either in war or during an economic boom when the labor market had to reach out to an unusual degree to recruit women for work which had previously been done by men. The consequence has been that despite the ever-increasing number of women in the labor market, national policies have generally continued to be based on the assumption that women are secondary earners, that their activity in the labor market will be secondary to their primary obligations to home and children, that their going to work will be a matter of personal choice and that therefore the costs and respon- sibilities of child care shall be personal charges upon the working mothers and their spouses. The widely established facts are that women are working in ever greater numbers, that the vast majority of women work out of economic necessity, and the growing sectors of the economy are those with a high demand for women workers. But these facts have not yet been widely accepted either by lawmakers or by the pu~blic at large. Yet they lead inevitably to the conclusion that need for child care is rising. Indeed, as evidence of growing awareness, the level of discussion in every modern country about child care is also rising.6' Discussion often becomes intense, not only about the main issue of need but about such subordinate questions as whether public-sup- ported child care should be the responsibility of education authori- ties, labor market offices, or social services and welfare institutions; whether it should continue to lie mainly in the hands of the voluntary agencies who may receive some Government aid as they take over care of children of working mothers, or whether local governments should carry the initiative in establishing and supporting institutions, with aid coming to them from national or provincial sources. Answers to these questions which can satisfy the needs of working mothers seem to depend greatly on the degree to which labor market 61 For 2 important comparative studies on child care needs and programs. see Working Party on "The Role of Women in the Economy" (November 1974), 26-29. Point 0 of the agenda, "Care of Children of Working Parents," Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), Paris, Nov. 8, 1974. MS S7 74.9: and Sheila Kamerman, "Child Care Programs in Nine Countries." a report prepared for the OECD working party on the role of women in the economy (Washington, D.C. : TJ.S. Department of Health, Education, and Welfare, DHEW Publication No. (ODII) 30080, no date (1975?)). PAGENO="0298" 290 considerations enter into planning of child care facilities. For ex- ample, when child care is a responsibility of education authorities, the focus of their attention is understandably on the content of the program and its integration with the school program. When social services agencies carry the responsibility, they are seeking to deal with children in an atmosphere defined as deprivation of maternal (and sometimes paternal) care. They are, as they say, child-centered. These are important considerations and both views represent essen- tial aspects of child care programs. But both of them to a great de- gree overlook the needs of the worhing mother and father, that. should be integrated within the program. Such matters as their hours of work, the length of the journey to work-and to the child-care cen- ter-and their access to transportation to the doctor and dentist, as well as opportunities for consultation with school and child-center teachers. These matters are compounded in difficulty wheii one or both parents work shifts-a common element of work for such peop ie as nurses, waitresses, janitors, and cleaners and other service personnel, as well as people in continuous production. Still another question arises as to the forms which child care shall take and how governments ma.y subsidize a variety of programs. Shall it all be group care in institutional settings? How useful and desirabk is what has come to be known as family day care ?-a system by which women are encouraged to accept one to three children into their own homes under supervision of local authorities who select the care- takers, offer them some training, pay them in a regular way at ac- ceptable rates, guarantee their income and cover them for fringe bene- fits, and offer some assistance with the cost and preparation of meals and with equipment. Shall care be offered only to children over 3 or may infants be included? What about play schools, and part-time nurseries and kindergartens? What kinds of care may be provided for school children both before and after school and during holidays and vacations? What about the care of sick children? In this area also belongs the consideration of paid maternity leave for the working mother, perhaps coupled with paid or unpaid child- care leave for one parent (or perhaps for both in turn) during a pe- riod of several months or more following the birth or adoption of a child. We shall look at all of these issues as we turn now to the experience of several countries that have developed programs which respond to these problems~ A. Ai~stralia In 1969, in all of Australia only about 14,000 children were in child care facilities of any kind; of these, only 2,000 were in centers which received Government aid; only one State, Tasmania, offered a public subsidy winch applied to chilclreii of working rnothiers.~ Tiie Labour Government early in its office set up a Pre-Schools Committee, and in late 1973 its report and recommendations (known as the Fry re- port) were available.n 62 Julie Rigg, Robin Hughes, Pip Porter, Sandra Hall, Susie Eisenhuth, "Child Care, A Community Responsibility," Child Care Committee, the Media Women s Action Group (Sydney, April 1972). See also Ailsa Burns, Maureen Fegan, Ashley Sparkes, and Pay Thomson, "Working Mothers and Their Children," the Electrical Trades Union study ~Syd- ney: Macquarie University, August 1974). °~ "Care and Education of Young Children," Joan Fry, chairman, Australian Preschools Committee (Canberra, November 1973). PAGENO="0299" 291 However, because of some dissatisfaction with the specific recoin- mendations of the Fry report's emphasis on preschooling rather than child care needs, the Labour Government then set up a Children's Commissionu under a new statute.65 Pending the adoption of the stat- ute, an interim committee carried on the work projected for the commission. The program for children as laid down by the commission is estab~ lished on the following principles. It is to be flexible, community based, offering integrated services, developed "within a framework of clearly defined priorities, with first priority given to those in greatest need," and "in the recognition that the care and development of chil- dren are interrelated so that there is no rigid distinction between edu- cating and caring for children." The Government instructed the interim committee to work to the end that by 1980 "all children in Australia will have access to services designed to take care of their educational, emotional, physical, social and recreational needs * * Further, the Government directed the committee to sponsor a.nd pro- mote rapid development of a full range of programs, including early. childhood education, full day care, playgroups, occasional care, before and after school care, holiday care, emergency care, and "any other service that may be deemed necessary or desirable in order to meet the long-term objective." The committee was further instructed to make recommendations on financing, standards and procedures for processing aid applica- tions; second, to stimulate community participation; third, to initiate and where necessary conduct in-service, on-the-job short intensive and conversion courses for personnel, as. well as to promote the in~ creased provisions of formal professional training.~° An important ele- ment of the committee's work was also to conduct or contract for re- search.67 Two major studies have appeared.68 The Fry report had concerned itself in detail with the measurement of need for child care. In a country in which women's labor force par- ticipation has risen rapidly from 25.1 percent of the labor force. in 1961, had reached 29.5 percent in 1966, and gone up to 31.7 percent. in 1971 and then to 33.3 percent in 1973, the number of married women and where necessary conduct in-service, on-the-job short intensive One of the committee's contract studies reports that by 1974 more than 37 percent of the women in the labor force were married.69 The two other reports which came out during this period further substantiated the overwhelming demand and need for child care. One was commissioned by the Electrical Trades Union, whose membership included a large number of working mothers, and the other was done ~ Ministerial statement by the Honorable Lionel F. Bowen, MP, Minister assisting the Prime Minister, "Establishment of a Children's Commission" (Sept. 19, 1974). 65 Children's Commission Act, 1975. No. 51 of 1975. Canberra. This act, although assented to in June 1975, has not been proclaimed as of this writing and the interim committee con- tinies to function as the administrative agency. °~ Bowen ministerial statement. ~ A recent report. "Child Care Research Grants," shows 20 current grants. Office of Child Care, Australian Department of Social Security. No date. Transmitted to the author Sept. 6, 1976. ~ James Cullen, Alison Bellamy, Eva Cox, Gary Egger, Lyn Gain, "Mothers' Child Care Preferences : A Report to the Australian Government Advisory Committee on Child Care and Conducted Under the Auspices of the NSW Association for Mental Health" (Sydney, December 1975) and Barry M. Wilson, "Child Care Report," study of a supervised play- ground and the home background of children who attend (Brisbane, December 1974). 6~ Wilson, op. cit., p. ii. PAGENO="0300" 292 by the Media Women's Action Group, many of whom were also work- ing mothers.7° The fact is that the prevailing attitude in Australia favors the man of the family as sole breadwinner and the woman as having almost entire responsibility for care of preschool children. What provision has been made for child care has mainly been the result of the initiative of voluntary social welfare agencies offering services to deprived and abused children. In view of the rapidly rising number of women enter- ing the labor force, however, the voluntary agencies are no longer able to meet the need. "This paucity * * forces many desperate mothers to make arrangements with untrained and unregistered child- minders or with commercially run nurseries where fees are extremely high." 71 The Government, because of the wide acceptance of the doc- trine of the male breadwinner, has been slow to support child care as a community or national responsibility. Most child-care centers which existed in the early 1970's were in Melbourne and Sydney and, according to the Media Women's Action Group, "in the most affluent areas." Most preschool centers were operated only part day in short sessions, and in some cases there was not sufficient space for children to attend every day. While some voluntary agencies received government support, only 2,000 of the 14,000 children in care in 1969 were in sub- sidized centers. The Fry report defined the need for child car very broadly. The presence of working parents was only one criterion among "families in distress," "children in institutions and isolated children, handi- capped children, and children in single-parent families." The com- mittee estimated that in view of the very great projected needs for 1985, the Government could at best meet only 10 percent of them. In contrast to the attitude in some other countries, the Fry report strongly favored not only institutional but family day care.72 In part, it did so because it could not realistically foresee the construction and staffing (particularly the latter) of enough preschool centers to meet even 10 percent of need by 1985; in part, it strongly favored the home surroundings and small groups which family day care offers, particularly for small children. Table 4 projects what percentage of each age cohort would be cared for in these programs by 1985: TABLE 4-PROJECTED DAY CARE FACILITIES TO BE AVAILABLE BY 1985 IN AUSTRALIA LIn percenti Family day care Day care certers Age groups: 4.0 8.0 4 to 5 3 to 2to3 lto2 Otol 4 5 6.0 6.0 7.0 7. 0 4.0 3.0 1.5 Like the United States, Australia has a federal government which is legally forbidden in some cases and always reluctant to sI?onsor its own projects. Instead, the money for programs which it legislates must `° Burns, Fegan, Sparkes, and Thomas, op. cit.; and Riggs, Hughes, Porter, Hall, and Elsenhuth, op. cit. "See Mrs. K. Sznmer, "Families In Need of Full Day Preschool Centers,'~ Social Service, 24: 4 (Tanuary/February 1973). 72 See the section on Sweden for a contrasting view. ~ "Care and Education of Young Children," p. 91. PAGENO="0301" 293 be funneled through the States or derived from them, each of which writes its own enabling legislation, sets its own standards and, carries through its own licensing regulations. The chief means by which ~he Commonwealth Government can hope to see its programs carried out and its goals met is through the provision of attractive amounts of grants-in-aid. By its 1973 commitment to a national thud care program, the Gov- ernment was ready to further implement the program in two ways. First, it would set up demonstration programs in a number of selected cominunities,~4 on which it would make regular, widely disseminated reports; second, it would provide a generous program of local as~istance. The Government was prepared to assume capital costs of instituting local programs at $2,000 per child pius equipment costs of about $8,000 per center. Operating costs were to be granted depending on the age of the children served: TABLE 5.-Cost of child care programs in loCal communities in Australia1 Per oar~/q 3 to 5 years of age in centers with 35 children 2 to 5 years of age in centers with 46 children 894 o to 5 years of age in centers with 63 children 1,028 1 "Care and Education of Children, app. XI S, p. 271. It was anticipated that parents would pay fees on a sliding scale which the Fry report suggested would be from about Australian $8-13 per week. Subsidies at this rate would total A$40,546,000 per year `of 50 weeks of operation, based on a formula related to staff salaries. In addition, a total of A$17,245,300 would be added to cover recurrent assistance. All-in-all providing day care in centers for an additional 45,250 children as outlined in the program, would by 1985 cost the national government A$122,610,00.0. In addition, family day care was projected for 89,000 children. Because it would not require capital outhys, its costs were less, al though it was necessary to plan for buildings, land,. and furnit,iiw for the, supervisory groups. The costs for this part of the 1?: would amount to A$6,848,000.75 As noted above; operating subsidies were to be linked to staff sa~ aries, which represent about 80 to 85 percent of cost. Although these cdsts could certainly be expected to rise, the report recommended linking the subsidy to staff salaries because this linkage would have the advan- tage of "influencing staffing standards and allowing for salary incre- ments for staff." 76 In the first year of the operation of the Children's Commission, 1974, it reported it had spent A$45,242,639 (as compared with only .A$9 million spent in the previous year) and that its "wide-range projects `had benefited 200,000 children." `~ The 1975-76 budget was set at A$74 million but following the change of government was cut by about A$9 million. The amount nevertheless represented a decided increase over the previous year and the Minister ~ See, for example, the reports on the Shire of Knox, City Office, Fern Tree Gully, "Fam- ily Day Care Project," report for period Oct. 1, 1972 to Sept. 30, 1973, victoria, 3156. ~ Ibid., pp. 140-142. `° Ibid., p. 146. ~ The Children's Commission, "A Progress Report" `(Canberra : Australian Government Publishing Service, 1975). PAGENO="0302" 294 for Child Care Matters assured the public that "funds were available to mest all existing commitments for the financial year." However, she added, "As there is only limited money available Australia-wide, for new programs, only services catering for those most in need will be funded" These, she said, were programs providing child care, with very little funding going to new capital programs. To stimulate the desired integration of services to children, 75 percent of salary costs `would be covered in all projects "where the preschools had agreed to extend and integrate their services." 78 The Australians prefer child care programs to be community-based rather than factory-based. indeed only three or four factory-based child care centers exist in the whole country. Community-based means that the location, number, types, priorities of need and other decisions governing the kind and quantity of services be set by community bodies, who, they believe, wilLbe better able to assess and evaluate local needs than national or state agencies. The Fry report also looked for- ward to a high level of parental involvement in the management of the centers through parent/community committees where parents would serve in many of the executive positions.79 Government funds are to go only to nonprofit institutions and be channeled through State authorities. Funding will be governed by the application of standards set forth by the national government and agreed to and enforced by the States. Where States are prepared to put up capital funds, national government may supplement them or aug- ment them. Where States are already making some contribution to recurrent expenses, grants will be available to meet the difference between contributions and the nationally determined level of assist- Although the original Fry report was mainly concerned with the preschool child, the Children's Commission directed its attention to a broader range of services for children. In fact, the interim committee, `in its final year, went beyond the terms of the original report, to fund "a variety of holiday programs in the Christmas and May holidays and a* number of outside sdhool hours programs." 81 These programs include camping holidays, musical and craft groups, bus `trips, drama, and other creative activities. Several programs started as specialholi- day programs exteirded. later to aftersehool activities. Others were associated with day care and oceasional care services. Australia is'of `special interest tothe tJnited States, since it operates on a federal system of government. It has only very recently under- `ta~ken to provide Federal assistance `for a widespread national system of aid in support of child care services, not only for preschoolers, but for holidays and afterschool care. Its Federal budget-supported na- tional program deserves continued attention. 78 Press statement by Senator, Hon. Margaret ~Guilfoyle, Miniiter Assisting the Prime Minister in Child Care Matters, Feb. 6 and 24, 197G. For the official statement on the meaning ~of "integration," see ChildrOn's Commission, "Integrated Services for Children, What Do They Mean?" (no `date, 1074?). "The Children's Commission will * * * expect existing services seeking assistance to look `closely at the other childhood and family needs in `the community `for which `their "services could b'e catering, or at other services with which they could be cooperating. It will expect proposed new programs to be multipurpose where possible, or to demonstrate how they will link in with existing services, federal, state, or'local." p. 2. `~ "Care and Education of Young Children," p. 169. 80 Ibid., p. 170. 81 "A Progress Report," pp. 14-1~. PAGENO="0303" 295 B. Au$t?"ia Maternity and child care leave are both parts of the Austrian system. Austrian women receive a total of 16 weeks paid maternity leave, taken 8 weeks before and 8 weeks after the birth of the child. During this time, women may not go to work. The leave payment comes from the national health insurance fund and amounts to an average of the woman's net earnings during the preceding 13 weeks. During this leave, a woman is fully protected against dismissal from her job and on her return to work must receive her old job back or one no less satis- factory or remunerative. At the birth of her child, a mother also receives a cash sum of 1,000 to 2,000 Austrian schillings (about U.S. $200 to $400), depending on the type of insurance program in which ~he is enrolled. Following childbirth, a woman who is regularly enrolled in the unemployment insurance fund may request up to 1 year's leave of absence from the date of the child's birth, beginning immediately on expiration of her maternity leave. This Karenzjahr (caring year) or, as it is more popularly called in other European countries, this baby year, was introduced first in Austria82 but has now been copied in a number of other countries including Hungary and Sweden, and is under serious legislative consideration in France and Germany. The form it has taken in Austria since 1974, when its terms were amended and broadened, is that women receive from the unemploy- ment insurance fund a flat sum of 2,000 schillings per month if they are married and if their husbands are earning more than 1,987 schillings per month; or, where the husband is earning less per month or the mother herself is single, the payment is 3,000 schillings per month.83 Since over 80 percent of working women earn under 6,000 schillings per month,84 payment of 3,000 schillings would hardly be enough, one would surmise, to induce any but the lowest-income earners to remain at home with their infants. Certainly the woman who is single head of family could not afford to do so. Nevertheless, a Chamber of Labor shows that almost 90 percent of working mothers now take advantage of the facility.85 As a result of this program of paid child-care leave, the Austrian Governnient sees little need for providing child care centers for chil- dren under the age of 3. Nevertheless a few cities, particularly Vienna, have established some centers or crêches for infants and toddlers under the age of 3, for children whose mothers cannot or should not take care of them. In 1974, there were throughout the country 33 crêches for infants up to 1 year of age, which cared for 434 children or 0.41 percent of the total population of this age group. Children's centers ~ Introduced In 1960, It Irovlded for a 6-month's leave for all mothers following the birth of each child and 3 years later was extended to the present duration of 1 year. ~ Office of the Federal Chancellor, Bericht ueber die Situation der Frau In Oesterrelch, "Die Frau im Oesterreichischen Recht," heft 2 (The Situation of the Women in Austria, sec. 2, "The Woman In Austrian Law") (Vienna, 1975), p. 20. All elements of a means test were removed in 1974 with the result that "all women who have been employed for a certain period are now entitled to the benefit * * * [and] It has come to be regarded more as a social service nvailable to all than as some kind of charity," Edith Krebs, "Women Workers and the Trade Unions In Austria: An Interim Report," International Labor Review, 112: 4 (October 1075), p. 274. ~ The Situation of Women In Austria, heft 5, "Die Frau in Beruf" ("The Woman at Work," Sec. 5), p. 15. ~ Krebs. op. cit., p. 275. PAGENO="0304" 296 for 1- to 3-year-olds number~d 154 and had places for 4,240 or 2 percent of that age group.86 Austria, throughout most of this century has had a higher propor- tion of women working than any other country in middle and western Europe.87 Characteristically, these women interrupt their work only for very short periods, paralleling, at a lower level, the normal graph for lifetime careers of men. At the same time, the percentage of mar- ried women working is high and reached 57.3 percent in 1969. Austrians have very widely accepted the view, often put forward by their own experts and by foreign observers, that the child under 3 belongs with its mother. Despite evidence to the contrary, a wide- spread belief exists that children whose mothers work are neglected and suffer emotional damage as a result.88 These views would seem to account for the fact that httle attention is paid to increasing the number of full-day child care facilities for children below the age of 5. Kindergartens, which cater to children during the 2 years before compulsory schooling begins at 7, have grown at the rate of about 5 percent per year since 1970, according to the Min- istry of Education's Report to the OECD in 1975. The Ministry favored children attending kindergarten only one-half day, although, in fact, 72 percent of the children of working mothers remain through- out the day and have their midday meal at the centers.89 Many students of the subject have conducted studies of the need for child care, as well as of the mothers' wishes in this regard. Over- whelmingly, the demand is expressed for more child care centers. More than 33 percent of nonworking women in Austria in 1972 at- tributed the f act that they were not working to the lack of facilities for child care.9° All Austrian women want kindergartens for their children. But more than half of those questioned in another study indicated they were not able to realize their desire because of lack of sufficient `facilities.9' This shortage has resulted in a ~ ery widely practiced preference among kindergarten directors for the children of working mothers, a~id 40 to 50 percent of the women questioned in a study done by the Ministiy for Soci~d Affans replied that only undei such conditions wo~ild tihey,apply for work.92 * Au~tria. in these regards is not unlike the United States. A wide- spread view among families, social workers, lawmakers, and aca- demics is thQt children under 5 or 6 ye'~rs of ige are best kept withrn the~ family. At the same time, for a variety of reasons closely linked to the economy and the labor market, hut related also to the low birth- rate, hig divorce rate, crowded housing and isolated family living, ~ Bundesministerlum fuer Unterricht und Kunst, Bilduhgs Bericht 1975 an die OECD, pt. 2, "Vorschulerziehung" (Ministry of Education and Art, Education Report 1975 to the OECD, pt. 2, "Preschool Education"), p. 37 (Vienna, 1975). `°` See Dorotbea Gaudart and Agnes Neigi, "Die Frau in der wirtschafv' ("Women in the Economy"), table 2, "Wohnbevoelkerung nnch Lebensunterhalt und Geschlecht, i97i" ("Population by Livelihood and Sex"). The source of the statistics is the Austrian Census, 1971. °° See IFES; "Generelle Einstellung von Frauen und Maennern zur Frauenherufstnetlg- keit" ("General Position of Women and Men on Women's Work Activity") (Vienna, 1974) as cited in Report on the Situation of Women, sec. 5, "The Woman at Work," p. 77. °° Report to OECD, p. 40. °° Chamber of Labor in Vienna, "Women's Employment In Austria." September 1972. °` Leopold Rosenmayr, "Die Junge Frau in der Industriegesellschaft" ("The Young Woman in Industrial Society") (Vienna, 1969), p. 72. °` Bundesministerium fuel Soziale Verwaltung, "Bedarf an Klndergaerten" (Federal Min- istry for Social A~airs, "Need for Kinclergartens") (November 1971), p. 37. PAGENO="0305" 297 more and more women are going to work. The sectors of the economy seeking women workers are growing rapidly, and annually more women than men are being added to the labor force. In the face of these facts, the official disregard of the demand for child care, despite grow- ing need, presents a gap between outmoded social norms and modern reality. The Austrians have responded in an original and significant way by their provision of dhild care leave for mothers of infants; they have neglected the needs of mothers of children beyond this age, and are only now responding to them, and then inadequately, at the kinder- garten level. C. France France has one of the most extensive systems of child care in the Western World. . . . Among the many programs which aid French parents in bringing up their young children are family allowances; free medical care for prospective mothers, infants, and children, including home visits; and free public education and day care beginning at the age of two-and-a-half.93 National planning for social as well as other elements of economic and family life is in the hands of the Commissariat General du Plan (Central Planning Commission), made up of representatives of the ministries, regional planning services and relevant commissions of the departments. Since `World `War II ~ix plans have been worked out, each covering about 3 years. Beginning in 1954-56 the emphasis turned from rebuilding the war devastation to considerations of social pro- grams. Plan VI, the most recent (1970L75), concentrates on measures for domestic social progress, and deals specifically with an expanded program for *creches and increased research into early childhood development.94 The "compact between family and society" in France implies a de- sire on the part of the government to make up in birth rate and child health for thp ravages of war,°5 together with a commitment to "equal rights for all" which has its roots in the Revolution of 1789 but which receivedits i~ecent great thrust forward following `World `War II in the 1950's. The result is "a broad set of services for all families, not just the leastfortunate.96 These services are to some extent provided by the Government di- rectly or through the semipublic services represented by the three branches of the national insurance system to which employers and employees contribute: the Social Security Fund, the National Sickness and Maternity Fund, and the National Family Allowance Fund. °~ Halbert B. Robinson and Nancy M. Robinson, `~Introduction to the French Monograph," In Myriam David and Irene Lézine, "Early Child Care In France, International Monograph Series on Early Child Care 6 (New York: Gordon & Breach, 1975), p. xi. ~ Ibid., pp. 31-32. ~ Actually, the birth rate has been falling steadily In the last 10 years from 2.9 average births per woman in child-bearing years in 1964 to 2.14 in 1974; in the same period the actual number of births has also fallen, due in part to a decline in the number of marriages and a cutting off of immigration. See Evelyn Sullerot, "Problemes Poses Par le Travail et LEmploi des femmes; Rapport presente au nom de la Section de Travail et des Relations Professionnelles." Conseil Economique et Social (Paris, Oct. 5, 1975) ("Problems Poled by Work and Employment of Women: A Report Presented In the Name of the Section on Work and Occupational Relations," Council of Economic and Social Affairs), COuncil Report, pp. 100-104. It might be noted, however, that the fall in the birthrates of other European and American countries is considerably greater with the exception of Italy, which has gone from 2.64 to 2.25. Germany shows the steepest decline: from 2,55 to 1.54. Ibid, p. 106. °~David and Ldzine, op. cit., pp. 22, 24. PAGENO="0306" 298 Out of these funds is paid a variety of family allowances, none of which is means tested. All are paid to the mother: Health insurance covering all health care during pregnancy and delivery, as well as post natal care at 70-80 percent of cost; A daily allowance for the mother for 6 weeks before and 6 weeks after delivery. (Employers are required to grant 14 weeks of maternity leave with partial salary.) Family allowance, beginning with the second child and increasing with each child thereafter, with automatic arises adjustetd to the cost of living, plus a basic allowance to all families with children. Special allowances meant to encourage the mother to report regularly for pre- natal examination and care, to bring the child to well-baby clinics between the ages of 3 and 30 months; an allowance paid those families where there is only one income (and called therefore "single salary allowance") to encourage the mother to remain at home with her child (ren), and to assist in support of the single parent; a bonus to couples who have their first child within 2 years of marriage; a bonus to mothers who breastfeed their infants and an allowance for the purchase of milk (recently withdrawn) .~ Child Care: Child care is more amply provided in France for 2- to 6-year-olds than in any other non-Communist country. Moreover, it is free of charge. What is less well provided for is care for the child under 2. Nevertheless for this age group a number of approved ar- rangements exist. First is the creche, a facility which may be sponsored under public or private auspices and open to children from 6 weeks to 3 years of age whose mothers are working. Although crêches were originally charitable institutions for deprived children of the poor, this is no longer the case.98 Parents pay a fee on a sliding scale adjusted to in- come (low-income families may pay nothing) .°~ Priority goes to chil- dren of single mothers and of problem families.'00 The number of these establishments is small and waiting lists are long. It is estimated that of the 400,000 to 500,000 babies born each year to mothers who work, places exist for only 1 out of 21.1 Recently some creches (one study suggests 1 in 10)2 have extended their services to include children up to 4 years of age. In this case they call their program a kindergarten (jardin d'enf ants) . Some par- ents use it because the groups are smaller than in the universal école ~aternelles (to which we come shortly), though it has to compete with the attraction of its free service. Crêches are supplemented by agency-operated day care homes known as crê~hes familiales, which may not take more than three children. These homes are attached to and licensed by a district day-care agency, and they are closely linked to it through staff and financing. A central office staff serves children in~each of the~homes. The head nurse in that office receives applications, as~ign~ children, recruits, seiedts and trains caretakers and is available to parents. Moreover, this nurse is in charge of the health education of caretakers and makes visits to the children in the day-care homes. Ibid., pp. 58-59. ~ For a lively description of a Parisian creche, see Olive Evans, `For the French, Day Care Centers Have Become a Necessity," New York Times, Oct. 8, 1074, p. 46. ~ "Fees range from 22 cents to $5 per day, but not even the maximum fee charged ever covers the actual costs of care. Informal (unlicensed) family-day-care fees average about $150 monthly or about $7 per day." Sheila Kamerman, op. cit., p. 33. 100 Ibid., pp. 70-71. 1 Sullerot, op. cit., p. 128. 2 David and Ldzine, op. cit. PAGENO="0307" 299 Throughout the country there exist, as well, licensed day care homes. Anyone who wishes to care for children must register, and after a social investigation by a representative of the maternal-child care pro- gram (a division of the Ministry of Health) and a physical examina- tion, may be accepted. Families `who place their children in care must register this fact-even if it is with a close relative such as a grand- parent-within 3 days.3 There are `perhaps 125,000 such registered homes. Each year many women apply for registration and each year not only are some refused `but some who have been registered `are dropped. And finally there are small nurseries where babies may be placed for short periods when mothers need to shop or are `engaged in lei- sure time activities. These are called halte garderies (child park- ing) and may be used by nonworking mOthers for a fee. "The program was founded by the family allowance fund in response to the great need. for isolated young mothers to get out of their homes and partici- pate in outside activities." Table 6 shows the number of centers sponsored by various types of agencies caring for children under 3,5' as of December 31, 1973. TABLE 6 Creches -`- Sponsoring agency or organ!zatlon Number Places Day-care homes Kindergartens ` ` `Number Places ~Number Places Child. parking, number State - 7 295 Dpa~tment 220 11, 533 Municipality .295 13, 392 Bureauof Social Welfare 41 1,733 Hospitals - 72 3, 182 Family allowance fund - `11 399 Private: Associations under the law of 190L.. 117 5, 711 Enterprises 48 1, 639 Proprietary Others Total 811, 37,884 4 600 4 156 15 865 19 `916 74 2, 080 28 .2, 092 8 141 22 848 7 700 2 55 85 4, 088 75 4, 054 32 1, 058 27 985 .2 30 17 .522 I 15 7 235 9 2 124 40 1 260 257 17 2 10 250 10,425 179 9,015 722 `Numbérof Numberof centers caretakers Numbe ,places Family .creches,sponsOrship: Municipality Bureau of Social Welfare Family allowance fund Private organizations - Others Total -- `125 4,943 53 2, 370 20 758 40 1,544 1 , , 35 8,052 3, 970 1 400 2, 594 ,,52 239 9, 650 16, 068 During the year 1974, .65 new cr~ches were opened providing 3,104 places, bringing the total as `of 1975 to 40,988. In the family cr~ches, the number of places now exceed 17,057; thus'the total places `available in all France in 1975 was 58,045. The need for even more places is very great. The available ones are ill-distributed throughout the coun- try, several departments having none at `all, .12 departments having only 1 creche and most of the facilities being located in Paris 6 "Ibid., pp. 69-70. Ibid., p. 80. `Sullerot, op. cit., p. 130 (orIginal table in French; translation by the author). C Ibid., p. 131. PAGENO="0308" 300 As for financing, aiiother study states that costs for establishing day care centers (building and equipment but not land) are about $4,000 per child with the financing supplied 40 percent by central govern- ment, 20 percent by local government, and 40 percent by the family allowance fund. Operating expenses, of which about 80 percent is for salaries, are divided 4 percent to the central government, 51 percent to local government, 5 percent to the family allowance fund and 36 per- cent to parents in fees. The operating costs per child come to $7.50 per day in centers and $6 in family day care.7 In a report to the Economic and Social Council, a Government orga- nization, one author recommends on this point the following: Need for doubling or quadrupling the number of places for children 0-3, de- pending upon density of population in departments, cities and districts. The development of a national plan under which the state and the family allowance fund would contribute 80 percent of the cost of construction of new crêches with the local sponsoring organization responsible for the remainder; operating costs to be paid by the State at 4-5 percent, parents paying 33 percent and the local sponsor the remainder. A local public and private organization to take the initiative in planning num- ber, location, hours of service, size and their own internal regulations of the crêches.8 T~~y schools.-France's great accomplishment in the field of child care is the widespread establishment of the écoles maternelles. These nursery schools serve children 2 to 6: are set lip under the Minis- try of Education; are open to all children and are free to parents.9 The ecole maternefle has been described as "an admirable creation * ~. It places France in the forefront in the world as much for the quality of its pedagogical work as for the quality of its personnel * * and for the number of children it services: in 1975, 2,500,000 thildren between 2 and 6." 10 This compares with 800,000 children in 1968. Broken down by age groups the nursery schools serve: 22.4 percent of the 2-year-olds - 71.2 percent of the 3-year-olds 92.4 percent of the 4-year-olds 97.7 percent of the 5-year-olds Thus, although the nursery school is not compulsory, it is almost uni- versally used by the parents of children in the 2 preschool years, and very heavily used by the parents of 3-year-olds. In spite of the pride and enthusiasm in the system which.France has developed, there has been criticism "of the nurseries in certain respects. and these points are worth noting for the United States as it seeks to respond to the universal need for child care.~ First, the size of the groups in the nurseries is too large. They aver- age 45 enrollments per class and an attendance of 32. The need for more staff and.smaller groups is of first concern. ~ Kamerman, op. cit., pp. 33-34. 8 Ibid., pp. 132-133. A note in the International Labor Review, 105: 4, April 1972. com~ ments on the new regulations of November 1971 governing French criches by noting that "Paris alone accounts for nearly half the day-nursery places available for the whole of France, which, according to recently published information, has only 5 places for every 10,000 inhabitants, whereas the WHO (world Health Organizatioa) has laid down a minimum standard of 40 places for every 10,000 inhabitants," p. 380. ° Kamerman, op. cit., points out that parents are, however, charged fees on a graduated basis for the supplementary program (essential to a working mother) which includes before- and after-school care, meals, and Wednesday and school-vacation care. These fees amount to 35 cents per day plus ~1 per meal. p. 34. ~° Sullerot, op. cit., p. 140. `~ Ibid. ha For a detailed discussion of the daily program of the various age groups in the nur- sery schools, see David and Lézine, op. cit., pp. 84-98. PAGENO="0309" 301 Second is the problem of hours and schedules. The nursery schools in general follow a school calendar. They are closed on Wednesdays, on Saturday afternoons and Sundays. They follow school holidays and vacations and these matters leave working parents with unsolved and often insoluble problems of child care during these periods. Moreover, most of them open at 8 a.m., a little late for parents who have to bring children there before they themselves report for work. Even more diffi- cult is that they close for 2 hours in the middle of the day and at 4:30 in the afternoon. Supplementary staffs are needed to cover these periods, together with the regular provision of cantine services at noon.12 A problem in this regard is that the persomiel of these schools, in contrast to the compulsory elementary and secondary schools, are paid by the municipalities and towns and not by the Ministry of Education; these authorities feel they must collect fees from the parents for these extra services,13 with the result that about 20 percent of the enrolled children do not take advantage of them even when they are available. At the very least, a cantine is needed in every nursery school. Third, there is a very uneven standard of equipment in the centers. Some lack outdoor areas, playrooms, quiet rooms and the like. These shortcoming are apt to characterize underprivileged neighborhoods, both rural and urban, and therefore substantiates the need for greater standardization through more national participation in supporting these aspects of the schools, lest disadvantaged children remain disadvantaged. Finally, France has not dealt with the problem of caring for the sick child, despite the fact that a child's illness is a catastrophe for a working mother. Hospitals might be induced to offer a home care service for children who are not seriously ill. France has uniquely made the care and education of children from 2 years upward a charge upon the State. Since the schools for children between 2 and 6 are voluntary, parents who wish to keep their chil- dren at `home until the start of school may do so. Actually, the statis- tics indicate that almost all French children above the age of 4 and a very high proportion of 3-year olds are in free public preschool dur- ing most of the day. The provision of care for children under 2 is much less universal, but still probably offers more places for care than are available in any other country. D. Sweden Outside the Communist countries, Sweden may have the most com- prehensive and integrated program of child care 14 of any country in the non-Communist world.15 12 Actually, 85 percent of the nurseries in towns of more than 100,000 inhabitants have a cantine; 60 percent in the smaller towns but only 40 percent in the rural areas. More than 75 percent of the schools have someone who remains until the evening, about 18 :30. About 20 percent have organized a caretaking system on Wednesday, and 20 percent function dur- ing the summer as child-minding centers. Sullerot, op. cit., p. 141. 13 See Kamerman, op. cit., p. 34. 14 Although proportionately more children are cared for In France than in Sweden, the refrence here is to the total system of child care from prenatal programs to those covering in- and after-school care of children of working mothers. 13 The Communist countries, partly for reasons of political indoctrination and training of children and partly because the labor-market demands upon women are nearly total, have unquestionably provided more child care facilities than have the free-market countries. Even so, their available services in only a few cases-Moscow may be the one exception In the Communist world-meet the demand of working mothers for child care. PAGENO="0310" 302 The first program. is entitled "Parenthood Benefits" which may begin 60 days before the child's birth. Prebirth benefits are paid only to the mother. Benefits then extend for a maximum period of 180 days, beginning with the day of birth and amounting to 90 percent of in- come; these are payable either to the mother or father, depending on who is remaining out of work to care for the child.'6 The same amount is paid for the same period following an adoption, regardless of the age of the child. Parents who take this child care leave are assured that their jobs will be held for them for the 6-months period, provided that they have worked uninterruptedly for the employer for 1 year before the leave is taken. This provision holds for a maximum of two periods of leave for each parent. The assumptions in setting up this program are that It is a positive thing if the child from the beginning has close contacts with both parents. The change (from maternity benefits to parent benefits) is a signifi- cant notice on the part of society that the father and the mother have common responsibiliy for the children's care. The reform is part of a policy to promote equality between men and women in the home, on the job and in society.1' MOthers receive a cash payment (the amount in 1970 was SKr 1,080 or $200),' on the birth of a child (with increased amounts in multi- pie births) ; they may request advances on it during pregnancy if they can demonstrate need and have a doctor's certificate.'8 Preventivematernity and child care are regarded as very important. Since 1944, the State has supported such activities, which include a free health checkup of all mothers-to-be and new mothers, and of children below school age. It covers also preventive birth control, diagnosis of pregnancy, gym- nastics for mothers-to-be, and the treatment of disorders caused by pregnancy or delivery but not necessitating hospital care. Protective medicines for both mother and children are provided free of charge, as are also certain other drugs for women. The maternity, and child care centers-sometimes housed in the same building- function under physicians, assisted by midwives and nurses. About 90 percent of mothers-to-be visited a maternity care center for a health checkup.~ Every Swedish child receives a public allowance from birth until its 16th birthday, amounting to about SKr 1,200 per year per child. The allowance is a measure of social policy intended to support families with children and improve their standard of living. The payments are made quarterly to a designated parent, usually the mother.'° Chil- dren who lose one or both parents receive assistance from the national basic pension fund at the rate of 25 percent of a standard unit for the loss of one parent and 50 percent for the loss of both.2' Since 1969 the Swedish Government has instituted what it calls the 4-year control, a health examination for every 4-year old, carried through by a team of medical and psychological personnel who en- deavor to conduct a. thorough diagnostic examination. On the basis of this examination, parents, and if necessary social services, can work out a program fitted to the child with special needs and abilities.2' 1~ This information is summarized from "Maternity Benefits To Become Parenthood Benefits," Current Sweden, No. 9 (September 1973). The benefit may be made to the mother and father in turn, if they take turns either by the half day or longer periods in child care. 17 "Maternity Benefits * ~ s," op. cit., p. 3. 17* Approximately 4 Kronor 50 Ore equals $1.00 U.S. in today's market. 18 Astrid Wester. "The Swedish Child" (Stockholm: Swedish Institute, 1970), p. 11. 19 Ibid., pp. 22-23. `° Income tax regulations do not permit exemptions for children. Ia a sense, the U.S. parent could compare this child allowance withhis/her tax exemption. 21 Webster, op. cit., pp. 10-li. 22 Ibid., p. 21. PAGENO="0311" 303 Material from these examinations can, if necessary, be fed into the preschool where compensatory programs can benefit behavioral prob- lems, retardation, handicaps or respond to other special emotional or physical needs. Although Sweden pioneered in early childhood education and care in the person of Ellen Kay,23 a new phase came in the mid- 1960's with a decision of the Labor Market Board to recruit more married women. This change in emphasis away from a program which had brought several tens of thousands of foreign workers to Sweden encouraged Swedish married women who wished to do so to prepare themselves for working careers. As a result, the Board estimated that 60 percent of all married women would be employed by 1975 and 70 percent by 1980. A number of studies showed that women were pre- pared in large numbers to go to work if support facilities, mainly child care, could be included. In 1963, the Family Commission took the iniative for forming a joint central group for the planning and expansion of day nurseries and free-time centers. The group not only was made up of national and local government agency representatives and of persons connected with social welfare in public and private organizations, but included the two main participants in the labor market, representatives of employers' and of employees' organizations. The State had supported preschool institutions, mainly half-day nursery schools and kindergartens long before this time. In 1966, its approach changed so as to favor full-day nurseries and free time (after school) 24 centers. The result was to accelerate greatly the setting up of local joint centers serving both preschool and school children on a full- day basis. The next step was to link the preschool to the 9-year compre- hensive school.25 The family commission outlined a variety of full-time day care fa- cilities. It urged local authorities to analyze community needs, to set up various kinds of services in balance with these needs, and to see the dif- ferent types of child-minding facility as alternatives, all of which were to meet the need for supervision and development-promoting activities for children.26 Joint Labor Council studies estimated that by 1975, 130,000 children under 7 years old of mothers working full time, and 194,000 children of mothers working part time would need care; by 1980, these numbers would grow to 145,000 children of full-time working mothers and ~18,- 000 of part-time working mothers. The estimate of places which could be made available by 1975 for children up to 6 years of age for all-day care was 79,000 and for children in playschools open not more than 5 23 Ellen Key wrote her seminal book, "The century of the Child", in 1900. It was quickly translated into most European languages and greatly influenced the trends of child devel- opment and child care in both Europe and America. 24 The Rosengren report puts It this way: "The day nursery should be in a much better position than the part-time group to realize a pedagogic program of the type that was put forward by the 1968 Commission on Child Centers, and on which Parliament based its deci- sion. This is partly because the children spend a longer time at the day nursery which permits more broadly conceived pedagogic planning than with the 3-hour activity of the part-time group. Also more adults function in the day nursery's team, sharing the pedagogic work according to aptitude and interest." Op. cit., p. 5. These details on the development of modern child care in Sweden are largely derived from Bodil Rosengren, "Preschool in Sweden; Facts, Trends, and Future" (Stockholm Swedish Institute, 1973). This is an English-language summary of the very much more detailed "Report of the 1972 Commission," published only in Swedish. 2i Ibid., p. 17. For a detailed discussion of the Swedish approach to child upbringing and the place the child-care center has in child development, see Ragnar Berfenstam and Inger wilhiam-olsson, `Early Child Care in Sweden," International Monograph Series on Early Child Care 2 (New York: Gordon & Breach, 1973). PAGENO="0312" 304 hours per day was 67,000. In addition, recreation centers for children over 7 years could be expected to handle 22,000 children, while family day care would take care of 56,000. The total number of children in all-day supervision would be 157,500.27 The full-day center which the Swedes have chosen not only lies high operating costs, but has a shortage of trained staff. The result is that, against their better judgment, Swedes use a great deal of family day care. They see it at best as an interim measure to be relied upon only until enough centers can be put int.o operation. Family day care has, however, proved itself highly useful where parents work on shifts 2S or have other irregular hours; in some cases it provides the possibility of overnight care. It is also sometimes used in combination with the short- session preschool where full-day nurseries are not available. Above all, many parents favor it over institutional care for their infants and very young children.2° So long as family day care is part of the Swedish official care pro- gram, they support it in the same manner as the rest of the system. Day care mothers are selected by the Child Welfare Commissions in the localities and supervised by them. They receive grants for toys and equipment; advice on food shopping and nutrition; some 90-day training programs are also available. The local child welfare office employs these women at regular rates of wages, enrolls them in the appropriate insurance systems and provides for vacations. At the same time, it collects fees from the parents. In 1971, the number of children in day nurseries and in family day care was almost equal at 41,000 each. By 1974, the number in day nurseries was to have reached 62,800 and those in family day care 51,000. The plan for 1980 is to provide up to 150,000 places in day nurseries but considerably fewer in family care. The Swedes, in contrast to the Australians, see many disadvantages in family care. Among them are the fact that many of the mothers are untrained; many become dissatisfied with their work. seek other better-paid employment, have difficulties with the children sent to them, and, as a consequence, are unwilling to go on with their day-care tasks. As a result, children may be moved several times a year from home to home in search of adequate and stable care. However, the Swedish experts are chiefly concerned that children in family day care are not receiving the kind of well-rounded pedagogic program that is available in the nurseries. Studies seem to indicate that parents much prefer the institutional setting and hope to be able, as soon as possible, to move their children from family day care into a center. The Swedish program also provides for the care of sick children. If a child becomes ill after arrival at a center, the parents are notified and the child is isolated in a sick room at the center until they arrive. ~ The Joint Female Labor Council (Arhetsmarkna~1ens Kvinnoniimnd-AKN) ANN Infor- mationen, No. 4 (September 1971). "Public Care of Children I-TI," Stockholm 24.3.72, p. 4. ~ One proposal popular In Sweden but not yet put into effect is to exempt parents of small children from work on night shifts. ~ Jeanne Meuller, "Preschool Education end Day Care for Swedish Children" (The Swedish Information Service (September 1971), mimeographed. Mueller says that some 60,000 children were in 1970 enrolled In private family day care, in addition to the subsi- dized family day care service and the centers. A further 20,000 children are cared for, she estimates, by "family home help," the young women who work as mothers' helpers for several months before entering training schools to become professional child carers. PAGENO="0313" 305 If a child becomes ill at home, parents can notify the Social Welfare Bureau which is in charge of all centers and A child visitor, employed by the Bureau, can be made available to the parents for care and minding in the home. If the child is seriously ill, he is presumably under medical supervision in the hospitaL The child visitor is also available to transport a child home from the Center if parents cannot leave work and they are available even on weekends if parents are working. These visitors are screened by a committee of the Bureau, employed by it at the same rate as staff members in the centers and paid by the day for their services. Parents pay the same amount for this at-home visitation that they do for care in the Center.'° Before- and after-school care is part of the total Swedish plan. Play- grounds are supervised in nonschool hours, often by part-time workers who receive short courses in recreation and child care. Many preschool centers have a special room where school children may spend their out-of-school hours. In some places, school-age children are not only allowed but encouraged to join with the younger children, especially with their siblings, in the preschool outdoor activities. Programs for'( to 11 year olds include supervision of homework as- signnients, hobby programs and other supervised and free activities. The centers, which are open all day, accept children before and after school. Children who come early get a breakfast before going off to school; a snack is served in the afternoon before their parents call for them.8' Both local authorities and private agencies arrange for summer camps and vacations for children in private summer homes. The camps offer from 3 to 8 weeks stay. The National Board of Health and Wel- f are has general supervision of camp programs. It sets up standards for the operation of camps and pays a subsidy of 100 SKr per child. Local supervision is in the hands of the local child welfare committees and in some cases of county govermnents. The cost of constructing day nurseries is SKr 12,000-20,000 per place. These costs are largely, though not entirely, met by the central government, which makes a direct initial grant of SKr 6,000 per place, plus a loan of SKr 4,000 per place. If the facility is built with a State housing loan, oniy the initial grant is provided. These subsidies are only for full-day care of children and are not made for part-time pre- schools, although some help for these institutions is available from a special State granting agency. This agency, the State Inheritance Fund, can provide grants of up to about 50 percent of costs 32 for equipment of both part-day and full-day facilities, as well as for after- school free-time centers. Operating costs per child for a year in a full-day pre-school are about SKr 14,000, for part-day facilities about SKr 2,000 and for free-time centers SKr 7,800. The Board of Health and Welf are estab- lishes the number of places per department for which an operating grant shall be made, based on the center's available space and the age of the children. The Board makes the operating grants. These come to about 35 percent of the costs of pro-school activities; local authorities pay approximately 50 percent and the parents pay the remainder.33 20 See Meuller, op. cit., p. 16. "See Leisure `Time, Department, Stockholm Child welfare Board, "Description of Rec- reation Activity for Children and Young People" (Stockholm, May 16, 1972), mimeographed. 32 Rosengren, op. cit., `Initial grants (for building) are approved and paid by the National Board of Health and Welfare. Loans are approved by the Board and paid by the National Office for Administrative nationalization and Economy." p. 10. ~ Ibid., pp. 10-11. PAGENO="0314" 306 Operating costs vary with the age of child and with the size of facility, varying in 1970 from SKr 9,500 to SKr 11,700. The subsidy per year and place for full-day care was SKr 2,800 and in after-school centers, SKr 1,500. As costs rise, these amounts are increased and paid on a percentage of cost basis.34 Parental fees are paid on a sliding scale, with the minimum SKi' 1 per child per day for parents with an income of less than SKr 1,150 per month. When family incomes exceed SKr 9.200 per month, the parents pay the ftill costs of SKr 34 per day, although some commirni- ties have a maximum charge of SKr 20 per day.35 Parents do not pay for days when the child is absent, unless a home visitor is with the child, in which case they pay the regular daily rate.36 On the average, parents pay SKr 7 per day. The average is low because it takes into account support given by local authorities to children of unsupported parents, and parents with small incomes.37 The fact that day care is almost universally desired as well as limited in supply leads to the assignment of space on the basis of social need and this results in an over-representation of low income families.~ Parent~s pay their fees to the local Child Welfare Committee which has jurisdiction and responsibility within the local government for plan- ning and administration of pre-school centers. The Committee, in turn, employs staffs and day care mothers.39 Sweden provides a model of an integrated program which offers all the kinds of child care that working parents need-child care leave for parents of infants, institutional and family day care for all pre-school ages, before- and after-school care for children 7 to 11, and even care for the sick child. Its program places great emphasis on the pedagogic elements of pre-schooling, as well as on child-minding. Administra- tion authorities and parents both prefer the kind of rare which well- trained staff and well-equipped centers can provide, rather than day care in homes. Its financing represents considerable state aid for locally planned and managed programs. In conclusion, child development experts tend to stress the impor- tance of parental care of children, at least in the very early years. For this reason, the programs in Sweden and Austria, which pay one or both parents to take leave from work and remain with the child for six to 12 months after birth, command special attention. But for parents who cannot remain away from work to care even for their very small children, the French and Swedish crêches and the Australian plan to use family day care are thoughtful programs designed to meet this need. The Swedish preference for placing children in centers, rather than with less-trained child-minders in family homes, is the con- sidered judgment of experts who have carefully weighed each type of program. In every country, the national government is substantially committed to subsidize child care. In France, preeminently among all the countries in the world, care of children above the age of 2 is free to parents in the same way that elementary and secondary education is. AK Informationen, pp. 6-7. ~ Ibid., p. 7. ~ See above for discussion of sick children. ~ Rosengren, op. cit., p. iO. ~ Mueller, op. cit., p. 16. ~ Child Welfare Committee, Social Department, Stockholm, "The Stockholm Child" (undated), mimeographed. 0