The United States has witnessed improved economic activity in the last two centuries owing to the contribution of the large pool of American citizens. The economic prosperity in America has resulted in mixed fortunes for women. Disparities in economic and social life have revolved throughout this period buoyed by the differences in opportunities among the races and nationalities. To get a glimpse of the women occupation distribution in America, one needs to understand the interconnection, major development in the labor market, and the contribution of society in shaping the economic contribution by women. The experiences by women are better understood in the context of the exploitation and politics of gender and race (Amott & Matthaei 11). The essay will look into the importance of understanding the role played by gender, race, and nationality in the occupational distribution of women in the United States. American economic history has been characterized by exploitation, insubordination, and inequality which have been explained by racial and gender theorists. The theorists are in consensus that no single phenomenon can be used alone to describe the economic contribution by women. There have been improvements in the working conditions, wage work, and role of women in the economy as witnessed from the colonization period to the era of immigration. The population of working women increased from 18.2% to 45.8% between 1900 and 1990. This comprised 35.9% white women while 11.2% comprised women of color. These are mainly the African Americans and Latinos (Table 10.1 318). The period between 1900 and 1990 offers the greatest opportunity of understanding the status and improvements in women’s contribution to the economy. The number of women involved in the domestic workforce plummeted from 35 percent to about 1%. This was due to the availability of new jobs in the expanding service sector where nine million women were employed in 1990. This was more due to the realization of equality and aggressiveness on the part of some racial groups which were oppressed in the early twentieth century. The African Americans and the Indian Americans constituted 45 percent of the women workforce which was previously dominated by the European Americans (Table 10.4 329). The 1980 census unearthed the racial-ethnic hierarchies in the service sector which was predominantly women-dominated. The census noted that racial-ethnic typing in some cadres and the likelihood of whites and Asians acting as supervisors while the blacks were more likely to work as janitors and cleaners. This shows the role race and nationality played in influencing the occupational distribution with some groups receiving preference over others (Amott & Matthaei 327-328). This period of increased participation by women resulted in dire and unpleasant consequences which were diverse and influenced by racial and social classes. These consequences included “… discrimination, sexual harassment, and double pay.”(Amott & Matthaei 316). Despite these setbacks, the women were more financially independent and enjoyed the freedom of choice on living conditions. Disparities existed between the married and unmarried women contribution to the economy especially in 1900 when the former accounted for 3% of the labor force. This was due to the fact that women were more involved in unpaid work which entailed looking