How does the work done by women contribute to the economy? This study scrutinizes the statistics on key characteristics of this work, such as participation rates, wage differentiation, labour turnover and workforce segmentation, and interprets these statistics according to three sets of economic theories - orthodox, institutional and radical. By examining the strengths and weaknesses of each approach to interpreting the contribution of women's work, Karen Mumford provides an accessible survey of the methods economists use and the assumptions often hidden behind these methods. She demonstrates, among other things, that the realities of women's work are sometimes far from the picure provided by the economists.