From Marriage to the Market: The Transformation of Women's Lives and Work

311 Pages·2006·1.32 MB·English

by  Susan Thistle

FROM MARRIAGE TO THE MARKET
FROM MARRIAGE
TO THE MARKET
The Transformation of
Women’s Lives and Work
Susan Thistle
University of California Press Berkeley Los Angeles London
University of California Press
Berkeley and Los Angeles, California
University of California Press, Ltd.
London, England
© 2006 by The Regents of the University of California
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Thistle, Susan.
From marriage to the market : the transformation of women’s
lives and work / Susan Thistle.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN-13: 978-0-520-24590-7 (cloth : alk. paper),
ISBN-10: 0–520-24590-3 (cloth : alk. paper)
ISBN-13: 978-0-520-24646-1 (pbk. : alk. paper),
ISBN-10: 0–520-24646-2 (pbk. : alk. paper)
1. Women—Employment—United States—History—20th
century. 2. Women—United States—Economic conditions.
3. Women—United States—Social conditions. 4. Work and
family—United States. I. Title.
HD6095.T49 2006
331.40973'09045—dc22 2005031019
Manufactured in the United States of America
14 13 12 11 10 09 08 07 06
11 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
This book is printed on New Leaf EcoBook 60, containing 60%
postconsumer waste, processed chlorine free; 30% de-inked
recycled fiber, elemental chlorine free; and 10% FSC-certified
virgin fiber, totally chlorine free. EcoBook 60 is acid free and
meets the minimum requirements of ANSI/ASTM D5634–01
(Permanence of Paper).䡬∞
To my mother,
Mary Burnham MacCracken,
with thanks
CONTENTS
List of Figures ix
List of Tables xi
Acknowledgments xiii
1. A World Turned Inside Out 1
2. Support for Women’s Domestic Economy
in the Nineteenth and Early Twentieth
Centuries 15
3. The Breakdown of Women’s Domestic
Economy after World War II 35
4. Economic Difficulties and a Contradictory
Alliance 54
5. The Formation of a Female Underclass 79
6. The “New Economy” and the Transformation
of Women’s Work 99
7. How and Why Mothers Have Been
Shortchanged 133
8. New Possibilities and Old Inequalities 167
Notes 185
Bibliography 251
Index 287
FIGURES
1. Labor force participation, motherhood, and marriage among college-
educated women, by race, 1960–90 74
2. Labor force participation, motherhood, and marriage among high
school–educated women, by race, 1960–90 76
3. Poor single mothers compared to other women, by race, 1960 81
4. Effect of marriage and work on probability of poverty for a typical
mother, by race, 1960 83
5. Single mothers in poverty, by age and race, 1960–90 86
6. Single mothers in poverty, by education and race, 1960–90 90
7. Effect of marriage and work on probability of poverty for a typical
mother, by race, 1990 95
8. Poor single mothers compared to other women, by race, 1990 96
9. Ratios comparing poor single mothers to other women, by race, 1960
and 1990 97
10. Employment growth in the private sector, by industry, 1970–2000 103
11. Women’s work as share of private-sector GDP, 1970 107
12. Women’s work as share of private-sector GDP, 2000 108
ix