The great recession and female labor force participation

On Friday the Times ran a story about women who are reentering the labor force, typically having been stay-at-home moms, because of spousal unemployment, losses in asset values, or just plain worry. Today, Sunday, Maureen Dowd writes about the long-term downward trend in female happiness coinciding with greater access to careers, quoting Penn economist Betsey Stevenson. A nice coincidence; it's probably not very easy, or happiness-inducing, to be the economic insurance policy of the household!