While single women had a long history ofworking outside the home, married women in the United States did not work outside the home in great numbers until the twentieth century. Between 1900 and l930 there was a steady rise in the employment ofmarried women. Then, during the Great Depression of the 1930s, many women sought work as their husbands were laid off or forced to take wage cuts. However, women faced barriers to　employment. Federal laws discouraged the hiring of married women and required that they be the first to be laid off. Twenty-six states passed laws prohibiting the employment of　married women altogether. Despite such discrimination, the proportion of married women who worked for pay increased to more than 15 percent. Instead oftaking men's jobs in　industry, as opponents feared, woruen worked primarily as domestics, typists, and clerks.

　　Many women chose not to enter the labor force because of gender stereotypes in pay and promotion. The long-standing difference in male and female earnings increased from 20 percent in 1900 t0 55 percent in 1940. This was mostly due to business policies that tried to bind male employees to the company through pay raises and promotions but excluded　women from advancement, however productive they may have been. Consequently, few women earned enough to give them any options other than marriage. Moreover, most women who did have jobs still depended on men for "extras" such as leisure and entertainment