Using a unique set of data drawn from the US census, statistics, city directories, and other sources, the author looks at the differences between men and women in the US labour force. She shows that the `gender gap' in income and job level that has existed throughout history cannot be explained simply as a matter of sex discrimination, nor as a result of inherent structural phenomena in the employment market.
Readership: Economic historians, sociologists, and members of women's groups and trade unions.
Claudia Goldin, Professor of Economics, Harvard University
"`This book is both innovatory and stimulating and will break new ground for those not familiar with some of Goldin's 18 articles on women in the American economy. It is essential reading and should head any historian's personal reading list.' Economic History Review"
"`a milestone in women's history. This is a piece of outstanding scholarship based on exhaustive primary research and a high level of economic reasoning ... economic history as it should be.' Business History"
"`This is a piece of outstanding scholarship based on exhaustive primary research and a high level of economic reasoning which has the courage to attack head-on the three most difficult questions in women's economic history ... By establishing the facts, by applying economic rigour and by firmly establishing the importance of cohort analysis in women's economic history, Goldin has succeeded in answering all her questions. Understanding the Gender Gap is economic history as it should be.' Business History"
"'Goldin and her team of research assistants have not only confirmed wide and large-scale discrimination, but have added new and more positive information on America's working women.' Economic History Review, Aug '91"
