power of both the man and the woman. Fresh from
the feminist movement of the 1970’s, which empha-
sized gender equality, women sought both more ed-
ucation and more jobs in the 1980’s.
The demographics of gender in the workforce
shifted for reasons that went beyond the women’s
movement, however: As a result of the spread of no-
fault divorce laws in many states, divorce rates rose,
and divorce became widely acceptable in the United
States. Growing numbers of illegitimate children
and single-parent families also played a role in
women entering the workforce, as well as a trend to-
ward delayed marriage. Many of the women who en-
tered the workforce in the 1980’s did so because they
had to work to support themselves and their children.
The policies of the Reagan administration increased
women’s need to work. The Reagan administration
curtailed the growth of social welfare programs and
limited benefits to those whom Reagan called the
“truly needy.” Between 1981 and 1984, spending on
the federal financial assistance program Aid to Fam-
ilies with Dependent Children (AFDC) was cut by 13
percent, food stamps by 13 percent, and federal sup-
port for child nutrition in the schools by 28 percent.
The changing nature of work itself also increased
the number of working women. The United States
was in transition from an industrial age to an infor-
mation age, and the 1980’s saw an expansion of tech-
nology that eventually defined the modern world of
work. Not only did more jobs require technological
knowledge rather than physical strength, but also
some new technologies, such as commercially avail-
able handheld mobile phones and personal com-
puters, made it easier for women to supervise their
families from the workplace or even to telecommute
from home.
Child Care Reagan’s Republican presidential cam-
paign emphasized “family values,” a strategy that
contributed significantly to his election in 1980. Sub-
sequently, the Democrats began to emphasize family
issues, calling for concrete programs to help work-
ing mothers, such as flexible work hours, maternity
and paternity leave, uniform standards for child
care, and federal enforcement of child-support pay-
ments. In the 1984 elections, the Democrats unsuc-
cessfully tried to take the family issue away from
the Republicans, leading to angry controversies that
surrounded child care and family concerns in the
1980’s. The result was a stalemate on family issues.
While the government was deadlocked, child-
care problems continued to grow and cause anxiety
for both parents and society as a whole. Child care
was the most difficult issue for young families to face.
By the end of the 1980’s, nearly half of all marriages
were ending in divorce, and the plight of single-
parent families (usually headed by the mother) was
often one of severe economic hardship. Single par-
ents had to make the difficult choice between caring
for children at home and finding employment to
help support their families. By the end of the 1980’s,
the number of children five years old or younger
whose mothers worked had increased to ten million.
The number of affordable child-care programs was
never enough to meet the demand.
Research has typically found few significant dif-
ferences between children whose mothers are em-
ployed and those whose mothers are not. However,
the effects of a mother’s employment on her child
often differ depending on the characteristics of the
child, conditions at the mother’s workplace, and the
type and quality of child care the mother is able to se-
cure. The social class, age, and gender of children
also may influence the effects of child care. Group
care of children is improved when the ratio of chil-
dren to caregivers is low, allowing the caregiver to
be responsive to each child; when caregivers are
trained; and when the caregiving environment is
stimulating.
Studies in the 1980’s found that infants and pre-
school children with employed mothers were not
significantly different from those with nonemployed
mothers in respect to language development, motor
development, and intelligence. These studies showed
that, as role models, working mothers had a posi-
tive effect on adolescent daughters; these daughters
tended to be outgoing, active, and high achievers
with educational aspirations. Children with mothers
in the workforce viewed women and women’s em-
ployment more positively than children of full-time
homemakers, and they had less traditional views of
marriage and gender roles.Professional Work Prior to the 1970’s, the profes-
sions of medicine and law were generally closed to
women, and the (male) practitioners of these pro-
fessions controlled the membership. However, as
the feminist movement provided women with a vi-
sion of equality, women advocated for new laws to
ensure their access to education, jobs, and equal pay.1054 Women in the workforce The Eighties in America