Sandra Tsing Loh has written a very nice book review in The Atlantic that neatly lays out some of the issues surrounding female labor force participation.
One of the key points, although not new to experts in this field, is that so many jobs in the modern economy are just rotten. Faced with the choice of working in a soul-sucking cubicle making money that just pays for nannies and conspicuous consumption versus staying at home with the kids, smart moms may well choose the latter, and that is not necessarily a bad thing for women's empowerment.
