Beginning in the 1970s and over the next two decades, dramatic changes occurred in the role of women in the Mexican economy. In 1990 women described 31 % of the economically active population, double the %age recorded twenty years earlier. The demographics of women in the workforce also changed during this time. In 1980 the typical female worker was under twenty-five years of age. Her participation in the workforce was usually transitional and would end following marriage or childbirth. After the 1970s, an emerging feminist movement made it more acceptable for educated Mexican women to pursue careers. In addition, the economic crisis of the 1980s required many married women to return to the job market to help supplement their husbands' income. About 70 % of women workers in the mid-1990s were employed in the tertiary area of the economy, usually at wages below those of men.Observers famous that women generally were held to a stricter sexual code of conduct than men.Sexual activity outside of marriage was regarded as immoral for "decent" women but acceptable for men.