Working women: economic and social considerations.

The social, political, and economic forces that have drawn women into the labor force are complex and interrelated. This chapter presents four major concerns of working women: gender wage differentials, working hours and flexible schedules, nonwage compensation, and working conditions. Women are a relatively recent phenomenon in the work-for-wages market, and their specific economic concerns are not well understood by society. As their numbers increase in the workplace, these concerns will assume greater importance.