Final answer:
Historically, women predominantly occupied service and clerical roles in the workforce, which were typically lower paying. Gender stratification resulted in women being underrepresented in high authority and pay scale jobs, while also shouldering the majority of unpaid domestic work.
Step-by-step explanation:
Throughout history, women in the workforce have often filled primarily service and support roles. During the late 20th century, for instance, despite the number of women in professions doubling multiple times from the 1960s to the 1980s, most women were still confined to low-paying jobs. Over 80 percent of female laborers were employed in just twenty different occupations, with the majority in service and clerical work. These categories included jobs such as sales assistance in stores, filing clerks and stenographers in offices, and factory work where they were paid less than their male counterparts. Gender stratification in the United States led to a situation where women, despite comprising nearly half of payroll employment, were underrepresented in high-earning, authoritative positions and generally earned 77 cents for every dollar earned by men doing comparable work. Furthermore, women in the paid workforce were also still responsible for the majority of unpaid work at home. During the first half of the 20th century, societal norms dictated that it was acceptable for young women to work until they married, but even then, they were encouraged to stick to traditional women's jobs.