New Nobel laureate… Claudia Goldin was awarded the economics Nobel Prize for research that helps explain why women earn less than men. Her win helps to close a gender gap in her own field: Goldin is the third woman to be awarded the econ Nobel — and the first to win it solo.
Women still make ~80 cents on the dollar to men, a figure that’s barely budged in 20+ years and is even lower for Black and Latina women.
No laurel resting… Goldin’s research starts more than a century before Rosie the Riveter, analyzing 200+ years of women’s labor-force participation. What we’d circle in neon Sharpie:
For most of history, the pay gap was a product of women having less education and lower-paying occupations. But that’s changed: most of the disparity today is between men and women working the same jobs.
The single biggest factor now determining when a woman starts to make less than her male counterparts? The birth of her first child, when she’s likely to leave the workforce or work fewer hours (cue calls for affordable childcare).
The wrap: To close the gap you have to know what’s keeping it open, and Goldin’s work helps uncover that.