Prof. Claudia Goldin from Harvard has spent nearly her entire career investigating what drives the persistent gender gap in the labor market and how to narrow it. Goldin was awarded the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economics for her trailblazing research on women in the labor market, making her only the third woman to win the prize and the first to do so solo.
Through her ongoing research, Goldin, 77, has provided the first comprehensive account of American women’s earnings and job market outcomes through the centuries, the Nobel committee said in the prize announcement.
In her new book, Career and Family, Claudia Goldin traces women’s journey to close the gender wage gap and highlights today’s continued struggles for equality.
A hundred years ago, a woman with a college degree would either have a career or have a family, rarely both. Today, there are more women graduates than ever eager for both work and a rich family life. Goldin shows how generations of women have responded to this problem of balancing work and family. Pouring over data, including employment surveys, census records, and more, Goldin notes that even today, equity between dual-career couples is just out of reach.
Below is an interview video (1 h) with Prof. Golding: Understanding the Gender Wage Gap.
OnPoint podcast by nprOne: Nobel prize winner Claudia Goldin on women, the workforce, and the pandemic