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Back when only a tiny percentage of women worked in the economy, a family could be supported by one wage worker. But that all changed when the Japanese bombers attacked. While men fought on the frontlines in WWII, it was the Rosie the Riveters back home who filled the labor gap, making the bombs, airplanes, and other industrial products fueling both the war effort and home life. Over six million women entered the workforce by the end of World War II, and by 1945, they made up almost 37 percent of the workforce. By the early 1990s, the labor force participation rate of prime working-age women—those between the ages of 25 and 54—reached just over 74 percent, compared with roughly 93 percent for prime working-age men.
As women increased their education and joined industries and occupations formerly dominated by men, the gap in earnings between women and men began to close significantly. Female participation dramatically increased the workforce causing wages to stagnate in America. Over the entire 34-year period between 1979 and 2013, the hourly wages of middle-wage workers were stagnant, rising just 6 percent—less than 0.2 percent per year. The wages of middle-wage workers were flat or in decline over the 1980s, 1990s and 2000s. The wages of low-wage workers fared even worse, falling 5 percent from 1979 to 2013.
Women kept wages low. Rising rent and inflation makes it harder for a single person to live off a single income. Not only that both parents have to work to support a family now. Working women ruined the labor economy
As women increased their education and joined industries and occupations formerly dominated by men, the gap in earnings between women and men began to close significantly. Female participation dramatically increased the workforce causing wages to stagnate in America. Over the entire 34-year period between 1979 and 2013, the hourly wages of middle-wage workers were stagnant, rising just 6 percent—less than 0.2 percent per year. The wages of middle-wage workers were flat or in decline over the 1980s, 1990s and 2000s. The wages of low-wage workers fared even worse, falling 5 percent from 1979 to 2013.
Women kept wages low. Rising rent and inflation makes it harder for a single person to live off a single income. Not only that both parents have to work to support a family now. Working women ruined the labor economy
