Labor participation declines with age and poor health, whereas higher levels of female employment are correlated with higher levels of education and opportunities for vocational training and lifelong learning. In addition, household composition is important to women's jobs and working time trends, as households are typically the key decision-making unit. Whether women are therefore offering their labor depends on their marital status, the household's economic situation and the income of their husband
Married women with very low incomes are more likely than women with a high-earning husband to retain their link to the labor market. Factors such as divorce, abortion, number of children and the age of the youngest child also have an effect on the availability of female labor Nonetheless, financial incentives alone are not enough for this result. Equally important for female labor participation are the occupational and workplace characteristics. The service industry has been shown to be' open' to female workers; that is, the service economy is a big arena for women workers ' demand. At the same time, women have been focusing on the service sector because it provides flexibility and the opportunity to work part-time, which makes it possible to balance job and care responsibilities.
It is almost undisputed that welfare state policies are essential to the participation of women in the labor force, as welfare state is the major institution in modern societies that redistributes wealth, resources, and life opportunities through cash benefits, welfare services, and tax policies. Therefore, women's entrance into the labor market is viewed as a more or less automatic or mechanical reaction to the welfare state's (more or less friendly women's) incentive structure; that is, the assumption is that women react mechanically to welfare policies in a particular, homogeneous and predictable way.
Topic: Gender Gap. Do you think that women participation to the labor force influences inequality between...