Data collected by the U.S. Census Bureau (the Current Population Survey and Survey of Income and Program Participation) and other federal agencies were used to examine trends in the ways different cohorts of women born between 1906 and 1975 have attempted to balance motherhood, marriage, and employment. The study focused on the following: childbearing; marriage and living arrangements; education; labor force participation and occupational attainment; earnings; family well-being and the special problems of wives and single mothers; and ways/problems of combining employment and family. It was discovered that, although women have always held multiple roles, past generations either stayed home or entered the labor force after their children had grown, whereas women today are assuming the responsibilities of motherhood and employment simultaneously rather than sequentially. This change has triggered many social and economic changes, including the following: marked jumps in divorce and out-of-wedlock childbirth rates; increased numbers of female-headed households; and increased numbers of women living in poverty. These problems have been exacerbated by the lack of U.S. policies to support working mothers. The observed trends in the United States paralleled those in other industrialized countries. (Eighty-one tables/figures and 361 references are included. Appended is information about measures of fertility.) (MN)