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Gender Discrimination in Employment

The experiences of women in the formal U.S. labor force have long been shaped by systems of inequality. Women's labor—in both the formal and the informal labor force—has been regulated within a socioeconomic structure that is rooted in the core principles of capitalism, patriarchy, and racism. Although the U.S. socioeconomic structure is highly invested in the maintenance of male privilege and male dominance, the interlocking nature of capitalism, patriarchy, and racism, as outlined by the writings of black feminists, has also created diverse labor histories as well as diverse labor realities among different classes of women. Even when women's labor history is analyzed through the prism of these interlocking and intersecting systems of inequality, it is most apparent that all women are and have always been disadvantaged in the U.S. labor force, as described in this entry.

Women and the Formal Labor Market

As acknowledged by the title of Alice Kessler-Harris's book, Women Have Always Worked, the history of women's labor is intimately woven throughout the many fabrics of the national identity and historical evolution of the United States. The complexity of women's labor in the United States cannot be solely understood by analyzing women's labor in the formal or paid labor force. Women's labor has historically been performed in what has been conceptualized as the domestic or private sphere. The positioning of women outside the formal labor force or the public sphere was, and to some extent remains, culturally justified and legally sanctioned. Such justifications and policies were rooted in the Western social construction of gender roles, which are rooted in a patriarchal system and are committed to the normalization of male superiority and dominance.

Heidi Hartmann was among the first feminist labor scholars during the second-wave U.S. feminist movement to theorize about women's subjugation— both within and outside the labor market. Hartman sought to unmask the interrelationship of capitalism and patriarchy and argued that the sex division of labor is a central and pervasive thread throughout the capitalist mode of production. The underlining patriarchal principles that supported the devaluation and marginalization of women's labor performed in the domestic or private sphere took roots in the public sphere as women—primarily white, middle-class women—began to make significant inroads into the paid or formal labor force. Although the rise of industrial capitalism and the military industrial complex generated a demand for labor—hence creating a range of occupational opportunities for women in the formal labor market—women's inroads into the formal labor market or public sphere did not result in a socioeconomic equity between men and women.

Women's Struggle for Justice in the Formal Labor Market

There has been a long history of injustices committed against women who are a part of the labor market. However, there have also been key moments where women have gained greater access to resources and better standing within the labor market. During the 1960s, many of the acts that affected civil rights in the United States also advanced women's rights through greater equality. Two acts that strongly affected women's struggle for justice were the Equal Rights Amendment and Title VII of the Civil Rights Act.

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