Women of the Future

On April 12, The Economist ran a story about the future of the world economy lying in female hands. Among the facts cited: Girls now perform better at school than boys; more women are getting university degrees than men; women are filling most new jobs. Worldwide since 1970 women have filled two new jobs for every one taken by a man. Educating girls is likely the best single investment that can be made in to boost prosperity in developing countries.

In the United States, men's employment rate has decreased 12 percentage points to 77 percent since 1950. Women's employment has increased from one-third to two-thirds in the same period. Women now make up almost half of America's workforce.

Why?

Since the 1950s, many formerly male educational institutions in the U.S. have opened to women, paving the way for women to get better paid, and more diverse, jobs. There's also been a big shift in America's economy towards more gender-neutral service jobs and away from manufacturing work that requires brawn. And there's feminism, which has encouraged and, some say, pressured women to get out and work.

Although some argue that women's entry into the workforce has stalled, The Economist points out that the future may see both more women at work and more women at higher levels. For every 100 men enrolling in higher education each year in America, there are 140 women doing the same. Two surveys (by Digital Look, a British financial Web site, and by Merrill Lynch) showed that women are better investors than men, earning consistently higher returns because they are less likely to overtrade and commit to risky ideas.

Smarter, richer, better employed? Sounds really good. But it hardly seems that way when I look around. These facts make me feel great as a woman and mother of two daughters. Yet there's this niggling doubt, too, that education and superior investing skills don't trump basic prejudice against women and the lower pay women receive on average. Plus, I don't want women to have to be superior to men, just equal in every way. Looking at these facts, I understand why men might be collectively threatened by all the advances women have made in a relatively short period of fifty years.

How do these facts make you feel? Empowered? Threatened? Optimistic? Disillusioned?

By Leslie Morgan Steiner |  May 1, 2006; 7:35 AM ET  | Category:  Moms in the News , Research
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