These findings bear on the question of how best to support women’s work through public policies aimed at helping women and men better manage work and family. From a macroeconomic perspective, women’s incorporation into the economy contributed importantly to the rapid rise in economic output and well-being over the 20th century.
Between 1948 and 1990, the rise in female participation contributed about 1/2 percentage point per year to the potential growth rate of real gross domestic product. 24 And this estimate does not take into account the effect of the increases in women’s education and work experience that also occurred over that period and boosted their productivity.