Recession Drives Women Back to the Work Force

Lauren Auton, 9/25/09, 2:06 PM

As a result of the recession we are currently in, more and more women are returning to the work force, most of them with a high level of education. Some reasons this article gave for women returning to the work force was because the women had husbands who were laid off or they fear their husbands might get laid off, their husbands' salaries have been cut, or family investments went south. These women who have pretty high education levels used to be considered a privileged minority because they could afford to have the option of staying at home. The Federal Bureau of Labor Statistics stated that the proportion of women looking for work who have a college education, are between the ages of 25 and 44, and live with a spouse has increased. At the same time, the proportion of men looking for work with the same circumstances as these women has decreased.

I found this article to be pretty interesting because it related to what we are going through here in the United States and it also related to our reading from Sernau's Global Problems this week. As a result of more women entering the work force while more men are leaving it, will have a large affect on United States families. Relationships in which the men are typically the main providers are going to be strained. I think that many men will become frustrated and begin to feel inferior that the women are out working and bringing in the money while they are left to tend to the home and to the children.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/19/business/19women.html?_r=1&scp=2&sq=women&st=cse