Women work and family in America.

This report examines both the positive and negative aspects of the changes that have affected the lives of women in the United States in recent years including new patterns of marriage and childbearing educational attainment and labor force participation. "Delayed marriage increases in divorce and cohabitation declines in remarriage after divorce and higher widowhood rates for women than men mean that women spend more of their adult lives unmarried. Most women have children but they are more likely now than in the past to have a child out of wedlock and to raise it without the benefit of a partner. Women have made significant gains in education and in the workplace. Women are earning degrees in fields such as medicine and business that were almost exclusively male a few decades ago. The earnings gap between men and women has narrowed. However women often are segregated in the lower-status jobs within a given occupation and are underrepresented in high-level management positions and in elected political offices. Although most wives work for pay they are still responsible for most of the housework and child care. Womens gains in employment and earnings do not make up for the economic loss associated with increases in divorce and out-of-wedlock childbearing. Women are more likely than men to be poor at every age. Their share of the poverty population has grown because of the increasing proportion of families headed by single women--which run a high risk of being poor." (EXCERPT)