By using a synthetic cohort methodology, this paper contributes to the analysis of the evolution of female labour force participation in Chile over the last forty years. We decompose the participation rate in terms of age, year and cohort effects. The results of the estimations show that the age effect significantly explains the participation rate. Cohort variables are also important, enabling us to identify cohort effects associated with both, the number of children and the level of schooling of the group. In turn, contemporary variables are relevant, in particular the cyclical component. All this indicates that the changes in the participation rate may be due in the first place to increases in the number of women in the age groups where the participation rate is higher. Secondly, the increase in the participation rate is due to effects that are associated with different behaviours in the succeeding cohorts of women; and, finally, contemporary variables seemingly have very small importance.