Breaking Boundaries

Celebrating and Understanding Claudia Goldin’s Nobel Prize Win

Claudia Goldin, an Economics professor at Harvard, is the 2023 winner of the Nobel Prize for Economics and the third woman to be awarded with this  prize. She received the Nobel Prize for “having advanced our understanding of women’s labor market outcomes.” Goldin has centered her research on the role of women in labor markets. Her research centers around the employment of women, encompassing the participation of women in the labor force over the past 200 years to existing gender gaps today. 

Estimates vary, but you’ve probably heard that women make about 80 cents for every dollar a man makes. But what does this number really mean, and why does gender inequality persist? 

This statistic that is often used to describe the gender wage gap is calculated by comparing the earnings of the median, full-time working man to the median, full-time working woman. However, this number doesn’t tell the full story. The average wage gap is actually greater than the median wage gap and this calculation for the wage gap excludes the highest earners. Additionally, full-time male workers work more hours than full-time female workers. With these factors in mind, the gender wage gap might be even greater than 80 cents to a dollar.

Why does the gender wage gap exist? One popular explanation is that men tend to select into high-earning occupations, while women tend to work in lower-earning occupations. However, Goldin’s research points towards a different modern-day – one that she calls couple inequity. 

Heterosexual couples experience what Goldin has dubbed “couple inequity.” Women experience a motherhood penalty: mothers earn less than non-mothers. However, fathers actually experience a fatherhood premium —married men earn more than non-married men. Goldin explains this phenomenon by analyzing how the burden of childcare falls upon a couple, and how this impacts which jobs each spouse can take. Within a heterosexual couple, if they decide to have children and start a family, mothers tend to take on jobs that allow them the flexibility to be available for childcare or family emergencies rather than high-earning, demanding, “greedy” jobs. Even if a couple works in the same occupation, the mother may work in a less elite and strenuous role, while the father can hold a higher-earning position. 

What does this mean for bridging the gender wage gap?

The gender wage gap has persisted over time, while its driving forces have shifted. Unexpectedly, Goldin points toward remote work as a possibility for decreasing the gap. With the increase in Zoom meetings and remote work, these “greedy” high-earning, demanding jobs that married women typically have to give up might be more accessible to them. 

In a traditionally male-dominated field, Goldin’s accomplishment stands out as the third female recipient of the Nobel Prize for Economics. Her win signals the importance of understanding women’s participation in the labor force and offers hope for a more equitable future.

References

https://www.harvardmagazine.com/2021/12/claudia-goldin

https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/economic-sciences/2023/press-release/

https://www.usatoday.com/story/money/2023/10/13/claudia-goldin-gender-wage-gap-parents/71128533007/

https://www.nytimes.com/2023/10/09/business/economy/claudia-goldin-nobel-prize-economics.html 

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Claudia_Goldin_Headshot_%28cropped%29.jpg