Apply the economic approach to provide a different perspective to the one described in each subquestion. This question is open-ended on purpose and we will focus on your reasoning process. [8 TOTAL POINTS]

"Historically, in a typical household, the roles of men and women followed the same pattern: men were the income earners while women were homemakers. However, over time, the labor participation of women increased. In countries like the US, this increase happened much earlier than in countries like China."

a. Historically, female labor participation was low due to "discrimination" (i.e., a "preference" against women working). However, societies have changed their "preferences" and this led to an increase in female labor participation.