UC Santa Barbara

Substantial evidence suggests that women have added the role of worker to their characteristic adult roles of wife and mother. The inclusion of a work cycle in the female life course is a significant alteration of traditional roles, and is likely to have a major impact on both individual lives and the social structure. However, little has been done to incorporate these changes into theoretical perspectives on occupational development. This paper examines the literature on women and work by reviewing, at the societal level, the trends in female labor force activity since 1900 and, at the individual level, theories of the development of occupational behavior. An integration of these two areas is then suggested through an evaluation of their relevance to the human development paradigm. © 1982, Society for the Psychology of Women. All rights reserved.