Introduction

Discrimination against women as well as against other minority groups has become fashionable in many countries in recent years as a matter of public policy concern. It is fair to say that governments have tended to regard both unequal pay and unequal opportunity largely as social issues, whereas they are at least to some degree economic in terms of cause and effect. Whilst not denying that social factors are important and indeed that they may be major determinants of attitudes towards female employment, the authors would contend that economic analysis can contribute considerably to our understanding of these phenomena.