Claudia Goldin to Speak on Gender Equality at Home, Work
Renowned economist and historian Claudia Goldin will discuss her new book Career and Family: Women’s Century-Long Journey toward Equity at 7 p.m. Tuesday, Dec. 14 in an upcoming Family Action Network event.
Goldin, the Henry Lee Professor of Economics at Harvard University will be in conversation with Northwestern University’s David Figlio, Orrington Lunt Professor and Dean of the School of Education and Social Policy.
Goldin is best known for her historical work on women in the U.S. economy. Her most influential papers have examined the history of women’s quest for career and family, coeducation in higher education, the impact of the “Pill” on women’s career and marriage decisions, women’s surnames after marriage as a social indicator, and the new lifecycle of women’s employment.
Figlio, also an economist, was elected to the National Academy of Education in 2017 for his work involving school accountability, standards, higher education practice, welfare policy, policy design, and the link between health and education. He currently serves as a research associate at the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) and a fellow of the IZA Institute of Labor Economics.
In her new book, Goldin argues that flexible but lower-paying jobs lead to an earnings gap. “Many occupations have severe penalties for shorter and more-flexible hours,” she said in Chicago Booth Review. “They give large windfalls to those who work hours that are less controllable, and this creates real problems for couples.”
Drawing on decades of her own groundbreaking research, she shows how many professions are “greedy,” paying disproportionately more for long hours and weekend work, and how this perpetuates disparities between women and men. The COVID-19-era has severely hindered women's advancement, she says, yet the growth of remote and flexible work may be the pandemic's silver lining.
Goldin was the director of the NBER’s Development of the American Economy program from 1989 to 2017. She is a co-director of the NBER's Gender in the Economy Study Group and a member of many other prestigious groups, including the National Academy of Sciences, the American Philosophical Society, and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. Her books include Women Working Longer, The Race between Education and Technology, The Defining Moment, and Understanding the Gender Gap.
Resources:
Find Goldin on Twitter @PikaGoldin.
Read "Tackle Gender Inequality at Home and at Work, a Chicago Booth Review essay adapted from Goldin's March 2019 keynote speech at the Becker Friedman Institute for Research in Economics at The University of Chicago.
Listen to "The True Story of the Gender Pay Gap," Goldin's 2016 interview with Stephen Dubner on Freakonomics Radio.
Listen to "If We Want Equity, Work Needs to Be Less Greedy," the Nov. 8, 2021 episode of the Harvard Business Review's Women at Work podcast featuring Goldin.
Read Jessica Grose's interview with Goldin about Career & Family for The New York Times.