In the seventeenth-century Florentine textile industry, women were

Question

In the seventeenth-century Florentine textile industry, women were employed primarily in low-paying, low-skill jobs. To explain this segregation of labor by gender, economists have relied on the useful theory of human capital. According to this theory, investment in human capital—the acquisition of difficult job-related skills—generally benefits individuals by making them eligible to engage in well-paid occupations. Women's role as child bearers, however, results in interruptions in their participation in the job market (as compared with men's) and thus reduces their opportunities to acquire training for highly skilled work. In addition, the human capital theory explains why there was a high concentration of women workers in certain low-skill jobs, such as weaving, but not in others, such as combing or carding, by positing that because of their primary responsibility in child rearing women took occupations that could be carried out in the home.

There were, however, differences in pay scales that cannot be explained by the human capital theory. For example, male construction workers were paid significantly higher wages than female taffeta weavers. The wage difference between these two low-skill occupations stems from the segregation of labor by gender: because a limited number of occupations were open to women, there was a large supply of workers in their fields, and this "overcrowding" resulted in women receiving lower wages and men receiving higher wages.

There were, however, differences in pay scales that cannot be explained by the human capital theory. For example, male construction workers were paid significantly higher wages than female taffeta weavers. The wage difference between these two low-skill occupations stems from the segregation of labor by gender: because a limited number of occupations were open to women, there was a large supply of workers in their fields, and this "overcrowding" resulted in women receiving lower wages and men receiving higher wages.   1 
 1. The passage suggests that combing and carding differ from weaving in that combing and carding were

(A) low-skill jobs performed primarily by women employees
(B) low-skill jobs that were not performed in the home
(C) low-skill jobs performed by both male and female employees
(D) high-skill jobs performed outside the home
(E) high-skill jobs performed by both male and female employees

2 
 2. Which of the following, if true, would most weaken the explanation provided by the human capital theory for women's concentration in certain occupations in seventeenth-century Florence?

(A) Women were unlikely to work outside the home even in occupations whose hours were flexible enough to allow women to accommodate domestic tasks as well as paid labor.
(B) Parents were less likely to teach occupational skills to their daughters than they were to their sons.
(C) Women's participation in the Florentine paid labor force grew steadily throughout the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries.
(D) The vast majority of female weavers in the Florentine wool industry had children.
(E) Few women worked as weavers in the Florentine silk industry, which was devoted to making cloths that required a high degree of skill to produce.

3 
 3. The author of the passage would be most likely to describe the explanation provided by the human capital theory for the high concentration of women in certain occupations in the seventeenth-century Florentine textile industry as

(A) well founded though incomplete
(B) difficult to articulate
(C) plausible but poorly substantiated
(D) seriously flawed
(E) contrary to recent research

SVaidyaraman · Accepted Answer

1. The relevant part is:

"In addition, the human capital theory explains why there was a high concentration of women workers in certain low-skill jobs, such as weaving, but not in others, such as combing or carding, by positing that because of their primary responsibility in child rearing women took occupations that could be carried out in the home."

The above clearly suggests that combing and carding are low skill jobs which could not be carried out in the home.

So choice B is correct

2. The human capital theory says :
 
"because of their primary responsibility in child rearing women took occupations that could be carried out in the home."

If choice A were true, it would weaken the human capital theory.

3. The relevant parts are:

"To explain this segregation of labor by gender, economists have relied on the  useful theory of human capital ."

"There were, however, differences in pay scales  that cannot be explained by the human capital theory ."

Choice A best describes the author's opinion about the human capital theory.

GMATNinja · Answer

In order to use POE, first make sure you are clear about the explanation provided by the human capital theory (HCT). This explanation has two parts:

"Women's role as child bearers, however, results in interruptions in their participation in the job market (as compared with men's) and thus reduces their opportunities to acquire training for highly skilled work." - Women are the ones who actually had to bear the children (i.e. to be pregnant and give birth), and this would obviously present some obstacles to working and acquiring training. 
 "Because of their primary responsibility in child rearing, women took occupations that could be carried out in the home." - Women tended to take jobs that could be done at home so that they could be home to raise (i.e. rear) the children.

So we need an answer choice that WEAKENS either part. Choices B-E have no impact on these two aspects of the HCT explanation.

As you mentioned, according to HCT, the women tended to take jobs that could be carried out at home. Why? Because their responsibility in child rearing (a domestic task) required them to be at home. But what if there were jobs that allowed women to tend to their domestic responsibilities (i.e. child rearing) outside of their working hours? For example, a job with flexible hours might allow a woman to take care of her domestic responsibilities for a couple hours, then work for a couple hours, then go home to tend to her domestic responsibilities, and then go back to work for a few more hours. In that case, the domestic responsibilities would not be an obstacle.

Choice (A) says that women were STILL unlikely to take jobs even if the jobs had such flexibility. If the jobs were flexible enough to allow the women to take care of their domestic responsibilities, then why didn't the women take those jobs? There must be some other explanation, so the explanation provided by HCT is insufficient.

I hope that helps!

Skywalker18 · Answer

Took 4 mins 30 seconds, including 2 mins to read

42. The passage suggests that combing and carding differ from weaving in that combing and carding were
(B) low-skill jobs that were not performed in the home - In addition, the human capital theory explains why there was a high concentration of women workers in certain low-skill jobs, such as weaving, but not in others, such as combing or carding, by positing that because of their primary responsibility in child rearing women took occupations that could be carried out in the home.

43. Which of the following, if true, would most weaken the explanation provided by the human capital theory for women's concentration in certain occupations in seventeenth-century Florence?
(A) Women were unlikely to work outside the home even in occupations whose hours were flexible enough to allow women to accommodate domestic tasks as well as paid labor.
- Women's role as child bearers, however, results in interruptions in their participation in the job market (as compared with men's) and thus reduces their opportunities to acquire training for highly skilled work.

44. The author of the passage would be most likely to describe the explanation provided by the human capital theory for the high concentration of women in certain occupations in the seventeenth-century Florentine textile industry as
(A) well founded though incomplete - There were, however, differences in pay scales that cannot be explained by the human capital theory.

adkikani · Answer

GMATNinjaTwo   GMATNinja

Can you please explain Q2.

As per me, according to the human capital theory the high concentration of women in low skilled jobs was because they had to bear children and because they had to stay at home, they could only take occupations which could be carried from home.

I was not able to perform POE well here on lines of thinking about alternate cause.

JS1290 · Answer

Hi GMATNinja,

I was wondering could you please explain why option B is incorrect? I understand the reasoning behind option A but I am not still not able to let go of option B. In the paragraph it says, "Women's role as child bearers, however, results in interruptions in their participation in the job market (as compared with men's) and thus reduces their opportunities to acquire training for highly skilled work.". We need a statement that will tell us that it wasn't because of women's role as child bearers but instead something else which explains why they weren't able to work. My reasoning behind option B was that if parents were teaching the skills to their sons only and not to their daughters, this helps weaken the conclusion that the low opportunities resulted from their role as child bearers. Instead it was because of the parents who didn't teach their daughters the necessary skills. Could you please tell me where I went wrong in my reasoning? Would greatly appreciate it!

GMATNinja · Answer

Note that the author's logic is very focused: Women's  role as child bearers  results in  interruptions in their participation in the job market  and thus  reduces their opportunities to acquire training for highly skilled work.

Because this explanation is concerned with the loss of opportunity to acquire training in the job market for child-bearing women, we want the answer choice that most directly weakens this logic. Choice (A) does exactly that by providing evidence that women could actually take advantage of flexible hours to participate in the job market.

Choice (B) does much less to challenge the author's statements. Even if true, this information only tells us about learning opportunities for boys and girls under the supervision of their parents. Because (B) doesn't tell us anything about occupational skills that grown women could learn in the job market, it doesn't do much to weaken the specific claim being made by the author.

(A) remains the best choice.

jawele · Answer

1. The passage suggests that combing and carding differ from weaving in that combing and carding were
 Relevant text: "HC explains why there was a high concentration of women workers in certain  low-skill jobs , such as weaving,  but not in others , such as combing or carding, by positing that because of their primary responsibility in child rearing women took occupations that could be carried out  in the home "

(A) low-skill jobs performed primarily by women employees  (those jobs are actually similar in this regard 
(B) low-skill jobs that were not performed in the home  correct 
(C) low-skill jobs performed by both male and female employees  the relevant text discusses females 
(D) high-skill jobs performed outside the home  tries to trap you by using words from the text "a high (concentration)" 
(E) high-skill jobs performed by both male and female employees  incorrect as this follows from the above comments

2. Which of the following, if true, would most weaken the explanation provided by the human capital theory for women's concentration in certain occupations in seventeenth-century Florence?
 Relevant text: "In addition, the human capital theory explains why there was a high concentration of women workers in certain low-skill jobs, such as weaving, but not in others, such as combing or carding, by positing that because of their primary responsibility in child rearing women took occupations that could be carried out in the home". So this is clear that the main factor was claimed to be child rearing that required women to stay at home

(A) Women were unlikely to work outside the home even in occupations whose hours were flexible enough to allow women to accommodate domestic tasks as well as paid labor.   correct since answer this suggests that women didn't choose even those occupation that offered flexible hours, showing that perhaps child rearing wasn't the key factor afterall 
(B) Parents were less likely to teach occupational skills to their daughters than they were to their sons.  this seems a bit broad because it mentions "parents", and it gives an irrelevant comparison of children who were thought skills 
(C) Women's participation in the Florentine paid labor force grew steadily throughout the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries.  this still doesn't give an alternative reason that would explain why women tended to concentrate in one occupation than in some others  
(D) The vast majority of female weavers in the Florentine wool industry had children.  well if the majority had, then I think it's more likely that the theory is correct 
(E) Few women worked as weavers in the Florentine silk industry, which was devoted to making cloths that required a high degree of skill to
produce.  this gives information about weaving a relative proportion of women who worked there, but it doesn't relate this info to the other occupations, and so it cannot explain any differently the HC theory

3. The author of the passage would be most likely to describe the explanation provided by the human capital  theory for the high concentration of women in certain occupations  in the seventeenth-century Florentine textile industry as
 Relevant text: "In addition, the human capital theory explains why there was  a high concentration of women workers in certain low-skill jobs, such as weaving , but not in others, such as combing or carding, by positing that because of their primary responsibility in child rearing women took occupations that could be carried out in the home". So this is clear that the main factor was claimed to be child rearing that required women to stay at home

(A) well founded though incomplete  correct because the author does not show any signs of disagreement. The words "but not in others" express the author's concern that this may be a gap that the HC leaves out. Note that the flaw is mentioned in relation to pay. 
(B) difficult to articulate  difficulty is not discussed in this context 
(C) plausible but poorly substantiated  this is a trap because it redirects your thinking about the second paragraph 
(D) seriously flawed  "seriously" is already alarming 
(E) contrary to recent research  and what research would that be

I did poorly in on this passage. But I hope my debrief will be helpfull

Mavisdu1017 · Answer

hello expert,
 GMATNinja  could you help on Q1? how should I comprehend "combing or carding are low-skill jobs"?
As the passage says "a high concentration of women workers in certain low-skill jobs, but not in others (such as combing or carding), so I think "others" should be the rest part of the former part "low-skill jobs", thus it should refer to high-skill jobs.
Any expert help to explain? thanks

GMATNinja · Answer

Question 1 
 
The key here is to understand what "others" refers to. Other  what , exactly?

Here's the exact language of that particular sentence:
 
Here, the only thing that "others" can refer to is "low-skill jobs." So, we know that the first half of the sentence provides a contrast about these particular jobs: women are highly concentrated in some low-skill jobs, but NOT highly concentrated in  other low-skill jobs .

The second half of the sentence explains  why  this is the case -- women took jobs that they could do at home.

From this, we know that combing and carding are low-skill jobs that are not performed at home. (B) is the correct answer to question 1.

I hope that helps!

VerbalBot · Answer

Automated notice from GMAT Club VerbalBot: 

A member just gave Kudos to this thread, showing it’s still useful. I’ve bumped it to the top so more people can benefit. Feel free to add your own questions or solutions.

 This post was generated automatically.

In the seventeenth-century Florentine textile industry, women were

Prep Toolkit

Top 5 GMAT Debrief Videos

615 to 715 in 15 Days (Ria's Strategies)

More than Quant/Verbal Abilities: Speed vs. Accuracy

745 with Only Self-Prep and GMAT Club

From 555 to 765: 210-point Improvement

Perfect 805 Score Debrief by Julia

My Rewards

GMAT Reading Comprehension (RC) Questions

In the seventeenth-century Florentine textile industry, women were

Prep Toolkit

615 to 715 in 15 Days (Ria's Strategies)

More than Quant/Verbal Abilities: Speed vs. Accuracy

745 with Only Self-Prep and GMAT Club

From 555 to 765: 210-point Improvement

Perfect 805 Score Debrief by Julia

My Rewards