WASHINGTON, USA - Women now make up nearly half of the US workforce, compared to the third they constituted 40 years ago, and the vast majority of Americans think this is a good thing, according to a Time magazine poll.

Some 40 per cent of US women are the primary breadwinner for their family, according to the survey of 3,400 adults between August 31 and September 15.

The increase in female representation in the US workforce found strong support among both men and women, with 80 per cent of women saying they thought it was positive and 76 per cent of men saying the same.

In 1972, at the height of the 'women's lib' movement, the student population on US university campuses was 60 per cent male - now it is the other way around. Meanwhile, the 10 per cent rate of female enrollment in law and medical degrees has risen to close to 50 per cent.

Despite that progress, most Americans - 57 per cent of men and 51 per cent of women ' still believe it is better for a family if the father works and the mother stays at home to look after the children.

More than two in every three women ' 69 per cent - said they face male resentment if they have more power than men, though only 49 per cent of men said that was the case.