This article revisits some of the key debates on women's employment in 20 th -century Chile and reviews the range of views extant on the status of women in the labor market and their domestic and caregiving roles. Through much of the early part of the century, the prevailing view regarded women's employment, especially that of poor women, as threatening reproductive capacity. Midway through the century, new voices began to challenge the perceived clash between gainful employment and motherhood

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... y attaching more positive meaning to employment as a chance for women's personal and professional growth. Through the past few decades, the rising diversification and professionalization of women's labor set the stage for increasingly affirmative views linking women's employment to improved opportunities for personal and professional growth, financial independence, and poverty reduction. The debate over women's employment is a prime locus for an examination of the status of women, the division of productive and reproductive labor in each time period, and the role of labor in forging gender identities.