A small comment on language: You use "unemployed" and "do not work" as synonyms in this essay. I think it would be better to differentiate paid employment vs. not having paid employment.
I assure you that a stay-at-home mother of several children works very hard, and per the verse from Thessalonians you kicked this essay off with would be considered to be "working." But the language of women (and, in particular, religious women) "not working" does a disservice to this reality.
This is especially the case since a traditional women's role has been to do the unpaid labor of building community. As you note, dropping out begets dropping out--but a stay-at-home mom who organizes the church events most certainly is not an example of such a dropout. Using "paid employment" rather than "not working" would help the square this problem in the interpretation of this data.
I wonder about various r-factors in this. Spouses working supporting jobs is one, especially since women vastly outnumber men in most churches. Also, when I ministered in low-income communities, members more often worked multiple, lower-paying jobs and even older members with solid, sustainable employment worked much later, often supporting grown children and/or grandchildren. In my current congregation where there a lot of higher income households, people retire far before average age. There's so many factors.
A small comment on language: You use "unemployed" and "do not work" as synonyms in this essay. I think it would be better to differentiate paid employment vs. not having paid employment.
I assure you that a stay-at-home mother of several children works very hard, and per the verse from Thessalonians you kicked this essay off with would be considered to be "working." But the language of women (and, in particular, religious women) "not working" does a disservice to this reality.
This is especially the case since a traditional women's role has been to do the unpaid labor of building community. As you note, dropping out begets dropping out--but a stay-at-home mom who organizes the church events most certainly is not an example of such a dropout. Using "paid employment" rather than "not working" would help the square this problem in the interpretation of this data.
A big factor of female unemployment is children. Atheist women are the least likely to have children and Mormon are among the most likely.
I wonder about various r-factors in this. Spouses working supporting jobs is one, especially since women vastly outnumber men in most churches. Also, when I ministered in low-income communities, members more often worked multiple, lower-paying jobs and even older members with solid, sustainable employment worked much later, often supporting grown children and/or grandchildren. In my current congregation where there a lot of higher income households, people retire far before average age. There's so many factors.
Good to see distinction between statistical and substantive significance of differences
I feel like that intro might be inviting the wrath of Dan McClellan: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g3We_N-vHRA