The Origin and Persistence of Black-White Differences in Women’s Labor Force Participation

Leah Boustan and William Collins
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Leah Boustan: UCLA

Working Papers from Princeton University. Economics Department.

Abstract: Black women were more likely than white women to participate in the labor force from 1870 until at least 1980 and to hold jobs in agriculture or manufacturing. Differences in observables cannot account for most of this racial gap in labor force participation for the 100 years after Emancipation. The unexplained racial gap may be due to racial differences in stigma associated with women’s work, which Goldin (1977) suggested could be traced to cultural norms rooted in slavery. In both nineteenth and twentieth century data, we find evidence of inter-generation transmission of labor force participation from mother to daughter, which is consistent with the role of cultural norms.

Keywords: Labor; Racial Gap in Labor; Female Labor (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: J22 N11 N12 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2013-05
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:pri:econom:2013-6

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