The Origins and Persistence of Black-White Differences in Women's Labor Force Participation / Leah Platt Boustan, William J. Collins.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Boustan, Leah Platt.

Contributor:

National Bureau of Economic Research.

Collins, William J.

Series:

Working Paper Series (National Bureau of Economic Research) no. w19040.

NBER working paper series no. w19040

Language:

English

Physical Description:

1 online resource: illustrations (black and white);

Place of Publication:

Cambridge, Mass. National Bureau of Economic Research 2013.

Summary:

Black women were more likely than white women to participate in the labor force from 1870 until at least 1980 and to hold jobs in agriculture or manufacturing. Differences in observables cannot account for most of this racial gap in labor force participation for the 100 years after Emancipation. The unexplained racial gap may be due to racial differences in stigma associated with women's work, which Goldin (1977) suggested could be traced to cultural norms rooted in slavery. In both nineteenth and twentieth century data, we find evidence of inter-generation transmission of labor force participation from mother to daughter, which is consistent with the role of cultural norms.

Notes:

Print version record

May 2013.