The United States is at a crossroads in the path toward gender equity in the labor market, according to Fran Blau '66, Frances Perkins Professor of ILR and professor of economics, emeritus, at the ILR School.
After decades of progress, Blau explains in her latest research that gains in labor force participation, occupational attainment and pay have slowed or stalled for women and will unlikely improve without policy interventions to ease work-family conflicts and reduce discrimination.
Blau's paper, "Gender Inequality in the Labor Market: Continuing Progress?" is forthcoming in the ILR Review and draws on her years of research with various collaborators, especially Lawrence Kahn, emeritus ILR economics professor, Anne Winkler and the late Marianne Ferber.
"This paper can be seen almost as a capstone of my work," Blau says. "In 2022, I had this great opportunity to give the Cook-Gray Lecture, and it gave me a chance to reflect back on my work, the important research done by others, and the current labor landscape. Tracing back 50 years on the progress that women have made, you find a very mixed picture.
"I don't want to understate the progress, which has been enormous since post-World War II, but what we have seen is that following these big gains, progress has slowed, or in some cases, stalled."
Read the whole story on the ILR website.
Julie Greco is a senior communications specialist at the ILR School.
