The End of the Gender Revolution: Married Mothers' Labor Force Participation, 1963-2001.

Numerous media stories, be they on 60 Minutes, the NY Times editorial page, or the cover of Time Magazine, have discussed the recent retreat of married mothers from the labor force, a retreat referred to by some as the "opt-out" revolution. This paper moves the discussion of "why the retreat" from simple anecdotes to systematic analysis. After rising for decades, married mothers' labor force participation rates stopped increasing in the 1990s. In this paper we explore possible explanations for this significant change, including human capital, labor demand, and cultural explanations. Using both PSID and CPS data, and analyses of both levels of participation and transitions into/out of the labor force, we find that much of the leveling off of married mothers' participation can be traced back to a change in the underlying structure of labor market transitions that emerged in the late 1970s / early 1980s. We posit this change reflects the impact of feminism and the subsequent counter-feminist movement that gave rise to the "new momism" ideology that began its ascent in the 1980s. We conclude that change in gender relations may reflect a punctuated equilibrium... periods of stability followed by significant "shocks" to the existing gender order. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]