|
TABLE 4.
Labour force participation rates for women with
children still at home
(under 25 years of age), by family type and age of
children (1971).
|
Percentage of women in
the labour force |
| |
|
|
Wives in two-parent |
Female-heads of |
Age group of children
|
families
|
one-parent families
|
| |
|
|
| Women with pre-school |
29% |
47% |
| children only (under
6 years) |
|
|
| |
|
|
| Women with school-age |
40 |
53 |
| children only (6-14
years) |
|
|
| |
|
|
| Women with both pre-school |
25 |
33 |
| and school-age
children |
|
|
| |
|
|
| Women with older children |
41 |
54 |
| only at home (15-24
years) |
|
|
| |
|
|
| Combined rates |
34 |
50 |
| Source: |
Statistics Canada, Families by labour force activity of
family members. 1971 Census of Canada, Catalogue 93-723 (revised edition),
(Ottawa: Statistics Canada, Census Information Centre, 1975). |
Comment:
Table 4 indicates that more women participate in the labour
force when they do not have pre-school children in the home and that the
greater the level of responsibility the woman carries in the home, the lower
her level of participation outside the home.
Participation rates are consistently higher for those women who
are the female-heads of one-parent families than for wives in two-parent
families; . Note that the differences between the two groups of women (wives
and female-heads) are greatest for those with pre-school children only and
least for those with both pre-school and school-age children. Some possible
interpretations are:
-
female-heads of one-parent families, while carrying a
greater responsibility than wives in two-parent families, are still capable of
managing both sets of responsibilities inside and outside the home. They do
this out of necessity, not necessarily out of choice.
-
the presence of pre-school children makes managing both sets
of responsibilities more difficult. This is especially true when both
pre-school and school-age children are in the home.
-
given a free choice and the same set of alternative
conditions as are available to wives in two-parent families, the participation
rates for female-heads of one-parent families might drop as more took advantage
of staying home with young children.
-
it is also possible that, given better day care services
and more support services in general, the participation rates for wives in
two-parent families might increase.
|