In the 1970s and 80s, women's professions underwent a drastic change. Our culture began to promote the non-traditional choices that forced women to put career before family. Women have the opportunity to earn as much as men, but they often have different goals and values. The following data suggests that these culturally engendered trends are accomplishing what the anti-discrimination laws of the 1960s and 1970s did not, namely shrinking the large earnings gap between men and women. The labor force participation rate for women rose from 53.6 percent in 1984 to 58.8 percent in 1994.
More women also plan for long-term commitments to the labor force.
As a result, women now earn more. The 1994 Census Bureau statistics show that women earned 73 percent of the salary of men. In 1985, that figure was 65 percent. Much of the growth in women's earnings compared to those of men can be attributed to the growing labor market experience of working women. However, by 1987, the figure rose from 57 percent to 73 percent.