however the higher ratio might also be attributed to economic difficulty which forces women to return to work despite inconvenient conditions in many cases it is sufficient and eases interpretation to compare the employment rate of men with children under compulsory school age to the employment rate of men under compulsory school age without constructing a ratio of the two rates these employment rates should also be compared to the employment rate of mothers who do not have children under the compulsory school age and the employment rate of fathers who do not have children under compulsory school age