Half of US women prefer to be employed

If given the choice, 51 percent of U.S. women say they would prefer to work outside the home than take care of house and family, a survey indicates. The Gallup poll also found 76 percent of men would rather have a job outside the home than stay at home the highest percentage since Gallup began asking the question in 1992. Although women account for nearly half the U.S. labor force, a smaller percentage of all U.S. women work full time than do men -- 60 percent of men versus 41 percent of women, the poll said. Fort-eight percent of women age 50 and older said they preferred to stay home, while 41 percent of women ages 18-49 preferred to stay at home. Fifty-seven percent of women who attended college preferred to work outside the home, while 41 percent of women with no college felt that way. Fifty-five percent of unmarried women showed a decided preference for having a job outside the home versus 42 percent preferring to stay home. Married women were about evenly split on working or staying home. Fifty-seven percent of Republican women versus 37 percent of Democratic women said they would ideally want to stay home and care for the home and family. The telephone survey of 1,012 U.S. adults was conducted Aug. 9-12. It had a margin of error of 4 percentage points.