This seems relevant:
Related to @ucbalumnus’s post - the price that women who want to work pay for not having a degree is likely higher. While the pay difference is smaller for women and men without degrees, a woman with a degree is more likely to actually work. So while 72% of all men who did not finish high school, and 82% of men who did, but do not have a college degree, are working, the numbers for women are 39% and 63%. For people with bachelor degrees, it’s 91% of the men versus 83% of the women.
So it seems that, even in the 21st century, education is often the key to financial independence for women.
Unfortunately, the wage gap just increases with educational attainment.