So We All Can Succeed: 125 Years of Women’s Participation in the Economy – Federal Reserve Board Chair Janet L. Yellen At “125 Years of Women at Brown Conference,” sponsored by Brown University, Providence, Rhode Island.
“…The gap in earnings between women and men, although smaller than it was years ago, is still significant; women continue to be underrepresented in certain industries and occupations; and too many women struggle to combine aspirations for work and family. Further advancement has been hampered by barriers to equal opportunity and workplace rules and norms that fail to support a reasonable work-life balance. If these obstacles persist, we will squander the potential of many of our citizens and incur a substantial loss to the productive capacity of our economy at a time when the aging of the population and weak productivity growth are already weighing on economic growth…Despite the fears of some that women entering into the workforce would crowd out men, the evidence shows that the rise in women’s participation has contributed to widespread improvements in the safety and productivity of our workplaces, to the health of families, and to the macroeconomic success that our country has enjoyed over the past 125 years…A recent meta-study also suggests that children in the United States with working mothers do as well if not better in school, both academically and behaviorally, than children with mothers that stay home full time. This effect is particularly strong for families that have fewer social and economic resources, including single-parent families.As time goes on, girls with working mothers are more likely to be employed and hold supervisory positions, and they earn somewhat more. In addition, sons raised in families with working mothers assume greater childcare responsibilities as adults than sons whose mothers did not work…”