The Structure of Women s Employment in Comparative Perspective

One of the most dramatic social transformations of the latter half of the twentieth century involved the massive influx of women into the paid labor force. A central debate in studies of women s labor force participation concerns the influence of demographic and economic structures and institutional conditions on female employment. Single-country studies show consistent relationships between demographic and economic conditions and women s labor force participation. In contrast, comparativists emphasize institutional explanations for observed cross-national variation in aggregate levels of female employment. In this paper we analyze social survey data from 18 countries using multi-level modeling methods in an effort to synthesize structural and institutional accounts for variation in women s employment. Structural conditions including unemployment and service sector growth are important predictors of the overall level of women s employment. The effects of demographic characteristics on women s employment vary significantly across countries, and results suggest differences in policy context are associated with women s employment. In particular, federally supported child care is associated with an increase in the probability of employment among married women and women with children.