Men are also more likely to accept transfers, and pursue careers in which uninterrupted work experience is important. Families have traditionally relocated for the sake of enhancing the man's career and income. In part for this reason, women have been attracted to jobs with easily transportable skills such as nursing, teaching and secretarial work. 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.