The Nobel Prize in Economics was awarded to Claudia Goldin, a professor at Harvard University, for promoting awareness of the gender gap in the labor market.
Goldin is the third woman to win the award. Hans Ellergren, secretary general of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, announced the award in Stockholm.
Jacob Svensson, chair of the Nobel Economics Committee, said: "Understanding the role of women in the Labour market is important for society. Thanks to Goldin's pioneering research, we now know more about the underlying factors [that contribute to the gender gap] and the barriers that may need to be removed in the future."
Randi Yarmasson, a member of the Nobel economics committee, said Goldin did not propose a solution, but her research allowed policymakers to deal with the deep-rooted problem.
"She explains the roots of the gender gap and how it changes over time, how it varies with different stages of [social] development," says Jarmasson. So there is no single policy [to tackle the problem]. This is a complex policy issue, and a particular policy cannot work without understanding its underlying causes."
However, Mr Jarmasson said: "By finally understanding the problem and putting a name to it, we will be better able to pave the way forward." He also said that Goldin's discovery has "enormous social implications."
Ellergren said Golding, 77, was "overjoyed" to receive the award.
The Nobel Prizes in medicine, physics, chemistry, literature and peace were announced last week.
The Nobel Prize in Economics was created in 1968 by Sweden's central bank.
Last year's winners were former Federal Reserve chairmen Ben Bernanke, Douglas W. Diamond and Philip Dubvig, whose research on bank failures helped shape the nation's aggressive response to the 2007-2008 financial crisis.
Of the 92 winners of the Nobel Prize in Economics, only two have been women.
The Nobel Prize in economics has been awarded to US economist Claudia Goldin for her work that has improved understanding of the role of women in the Labour market.
The Nobel Economics committee stressed that Goldin's research "provides the first comprehensive picture of women's earnings and labor market participation over centuries."
It notes that despite modernisation, economic growth and rising Labour market participation by women, the pay gap between men and women has barely narrowed over the long term.
"According to Goldin, part of the reason for this gap is that decisions about education - which affect a person's career opportunities throughout their life - are made at a relatively young age," the jury said.
While historically much of the pay gap can be explained by differences in educational attainment and career choice, Goldin "reveals that this pay gap now occurs primarily between men and women in the same occupation, and that it appears primarily with the birth of a first child."
The Nobel Committee said Goldin's research also showed that in the 20th century, women's "access to the contraceptive pill" played an important role in contributing to higher levels of education, "providing new opportunities for career planning."
The Economics Prize does not belong to the original five prizes established by Alfred Nobel's will.
However, like other scientific awards, the winners are selected by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, and the nomination process follows the same procedure.