One of AAUW California’s Public Policy Priorities is to promote women in Leadership positions, so it is a pleasure to report that Claudia Goldin, 77, is the first woman to win the Nobel Prize in Economics without men as collaborators and the third woman to win overall. She was also the first woman to be offered tenure in Harvard’s economics department, in 1989.
Dr. Goldin’s Nobel-winning study focuses on causes of the gender wage gap, the evolution of women’s participation in the job market over the past 200 years, and the implications for the future of the labor force. In a paper in the National Bureau of Economic Research, Goldin writes that, “the golden era of American women’s rights lasted from 1963 to 1973.” Of the 155 important moments for advancement of women, 45% took place in those years during which women changed from having jobs to pursuing careers. This one factor is “among the grandest advances in society”, according to Dr. Goldin.
However, her work also focuses on the work that we still have to do to continue to advance.
Another AAUW Public Policy Priority is Economic Security for all women including equity in the workplace, enforcement of workplace anti-discrimination statutes, access to job training for career development, and work-life balance, including access to quality affordable childcare and paid sick and care-giving leave. These are exactly the factors studied by Dr. Goldin to understand why U.S. women earn $.80 for every dollar a man makes, why men’s wages are higher than women’s in the same occupation, and why women lag behind men in the top jobs.
“Women are now more educated than men,” Goldin told the Associated Press. “They graduate from college at much higher rates than men. They do better in high school than men do. So why are there these differences?”
In the first half of the 20th century, laws limited women’s ability to work when married or pregnant. In the second half of the century, birth control, later marriages and education resulted in substantial progress for women in the labor market. However, a gender gap persists into the present day–a gap that is compounded by additional factors, such as class, race, ethnicity, and ability. Dr. Goldin’s research shows that, when gender is the primary factor for consideration, parenthood and lack of childcare are the main factors contributing to the ongoing pay gap. As women are normally expected to shoulder caregiving responsibilities in the home, this pay gap begins a year or two after a woman’s first child is born. And yet, since the Comprehensive Child Development Act was vetoed by President Nixon in 1971, an act which would have created a national daycare program, consistent and affordable access to quality child care options remains elusive for most American families. While Goldin’s research is not focused on solutions to entrenched problems related to gender and labor, other economists note the importance of her work for better understanding these issues, which is a critical step for creating meaningful social and legal change.
by Nancy Major, member of AAUW California Public Policy Committee