Conversation

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In an astonishing act of timing, Harvard University’s Professor Claudia Goldin published a paper on Monday titled Why Women Won. It mapped milestone moments in women’s rights in the United States from 1905 to 2023.
A few hours later, she was awarded the 2023 Nobel Prize in Economics “for having advanced our understanding of women’s labour market outcomes”.

Goldin became only the third woman to win the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences, and the first to win it in her own right, not sharing it with a man.

For countless women in economics, and for advocates of gender equality more broadly, her recognition adds to the milestone moments she has documented in her own work.

Decades of research have seen Goldin methodically collate data and archival stories, detective style, to uncover explanations for the rise and fall (and rise again) of women’s paid employment over the centuries, including:

• the empowering effect of the contraceptive pill
• the removal of legal restrictions on the employment of married women
• the influx of women into higher education
• the shift towards a services economy.

Uncovering reasons for the gender gaps that remain, Goldin has scrutinised contemporary work culture to identify the unhealthy phenomenon of “greedy work” in which employers demand excessive hours and 24/7 availability.

This creates a gender divide by penalising those workers – predominantly women – whose caregiving role collides with excessive employer expectations.

A practical takeaway from Goldin’s research is that gender gaps in economic outcomes can’t be merely attributed to women’s “choices” or “preferences”.

Her comprehensive account of women’s experiences shows these gender gaps arise from an interplay of wider factors; among them, societal norms, technological breakthroughs, institutional structures, and policy settings that push or pull women’s workforce participation in different directions.

Sidelined no longer, Claudia Goldin wins the 2023 Nobel Prize in Economics for examining why gender pay gaps persist https://theconversation.com/sidelined-no-longer-claudia-goldin-wins-the-2023-nobel-prize-in-economics-for-examining-why-gender-pay-gaps-persist-215339