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In the early 20th century, women in the United States mostly occupied low-wage, service-oriented positions, including teaching, nursing, and secretarial roles. Economists have traditionally elucidated this occupational division via the lens of human capital theory. This idea asserts that people who engage in specialized talents and education are more likely to attain greater pay and access prominent employment opportunities. Nonetheless, women's responsibilities for home management and child-rearing sometimes disrupted their opportunities for further education and specialized professional experience. Consequently, they were more inclined to persist in professions that involved neither significant training nor extensive hours, such as education and nursing.
Nonetheless, human capital theory cannot fully explain the significant salary discrepancies that existed within these service occupations. For instance, men physicians received much more compensation than female physicians, despite both being involved in caring professions. The salary disparity might be ascribed to gender-based segregation in the job market. The limited availability of high-paying positions for women resulted in a substantial influx of female workers in caring professions, which therefore caused a lower salary rate for women relative to their male counterparts in analogous industries.
