once how widely their problems differ. The typical boy in Cleveland
attends school until he reaches the age of 15 or 16. About this period
he becomes a wage-earner and for the next 30 or 40 years devotes most
of his time and energy to making a living. The typical girl leaves
school about the same time, becomes a wage-earner for a few years,
then marries and spends the rest of her life keeping house and rearing
children. To the man wage-earning is the real business of life. To the
woman it is a means for filling in the gap between school and
marriage, a little journey into the world previous to settling down to
her main job.

The most radical and important difference between the two sexes with
respect to wage-earning is found in the length of the working life.
The transitory character of the wage-earning phase in the life of most
women is clearly seen in the contrasted age distribution shown in
Table 13.


TABLE 13.--PER CENT OF TOTAL POPULATION ENGAGED IN GAINFUL OCCUPATIONS
DURING THREE DIFFERENT AGE PERIODS

----------------------+-------------+------------+
Age period | Women | Men |
----------------------+-------------+------------+
16 to 21 | 60 | 85 |
21 to 45 | 26 | 98 |
45 and over | 12 | 85 |
----------------------+-------------+------------+

Approximately 85 per cent of the boys and slightly less than 60 per