Analyzing the changing conceptions of women's work and family life in the U.S. from colonial times to the present, Matthaei studies the relationship between capitalism and the sexual division of labor. From the integration within the household of family life and commodity production in the pre-Revolutionary period, she traces the separation of these two areas, resulting in the household being considered the woman's sphere and participation in the work force the man's. The author discusses the recent breakdown of this division, which has seen women coming out of their "proper" place and enter into the labor force.

Women have entered the labor market in unprecedented numbers. Yet these critically needed workers still earn less than men and have fewer opportunities for advancement. This study traces the evolution of the female labor force in America, addressing the issue of gender distinction in the workplace and refuting the notion that women's employment advances were a response to social revolution rather than long-run economic progress. Employing innovative quantitative history methods and new data series on employment, earnings, work experience, discrimination, and hours of work, this study establishes that the present economic status of women evolved gradually over the last two centuries and that past conceptions of women workers persist.

Analyzing the changing conceptions of women's work and family life in the U.S. from colonial times to the present, Matthaei studies the relationship between capitalism and the sexual division of labor. From the integration within the household of family life and commodity production in the pre-Revolutionary period, she traces the separation of these two areas, resulting in the household being considered the woman's sphere and participation in the work force the man's. The author discusses the recent breakdown of this division, which has seen women coming out of their "proper" place and enter into the labor force.

The marginalization of women in economics has a history as long as the discipline itself. This new handbook presents a much needed thematic overview of women's contributions to the history of economic thought from the 1770s through to the mid-20th century.

This collection of twenty-four original essays by leading scholars in American women's history highlights the most recent important scholarship on the key debates and future directions of this popular and contemporary field. Covers the breadth of American Women's history, including the colonial family, marriage, health, sexuality, education, immigration, work, consumer culture, and feminism. Surveys and evaluates the best scholarship on every important era and topic. Includes expanded bibliography of titles to guide further research.

The economics profession is belatedly confronting glaring gender inequality. Women are systematically underrepresented throughout the discipline, and those who do embark on careers in economics find themselves undermined in any number of ways. Women in the field report pervasive biases and barriers that hinder full and equal participation—and these obstacles take an even greater toll on women of color. How did economics become such a boys’ club, and what lessons does this history hold for attempts to achieve greater equality? Gender and the Dismal Science is a groundbreaking account of the role of women during the formative years of American economics, from the late nineteenth century into the postwar period. Blending rich historical detail with extensive empirical data, Ann Mari May examines the structural and institutional factors that excluded women, from graduate education to academic publishing to university hiring practices. Drawing on material from the archives of the American Economic Association along with novel data sets, she details the vicissitudes of women in economics, including their success in writing monographs and placing journal articles, their limitations in obtaining academic positions, their marginalization in professional associations, and other hurdles that the professionalization of the discipline placed in their path. May emphasizes the formation of a hierarchical culture of status seeking that stymied women’s participation and shaped what counts as knowledge in the field to the advantage of men. Revealing the historical roots of the homogeneity of economics, this book sheds new light on why biases against women persist today.