Working Paper: NBER ID: w10331
Authors: Claudia Goldin
Abstract: The career and family outcomes of college graduate women suggest that the twentieth century contained five distinct cohorts.' Each cohort made choices concerning career and family subject to different constraints. The first cohort, graduating college from the beginning of the twentieth century to the close of World War I, had either family or career.' The second, graduating college from around 1920 to the end of World War II, had job then family.' The third cohort the college graduate mothers of the baby boom' graduated college from around 1946 to the mid-1960s and had family then job.' The fourth cohort graduated college from the late 1960s to the late 1970s. Using the NLS Young Women I demonstrate that 13 to 18 percent achieved career then family' by age 40. The objective of the fifth cohort, graduating from around 1980 to 1990, has been career and family,' and 21 to 28 percent (using the NLS Youth) have realized that goal by age 40. I trace the demographic and labor force experiences of these five cohorts of college graduates and discuss why career and family' outcomes changed over time.
Keywords: No keywords provided
JEL Codes: J0; N3
Edges that are evidenced by causal inference methods are in orange, and the rest are in light blue.
| Cause | Effect |
|---|---|
| Constraints faced by the first cohort (1900-1919) (B15) | Choice of either family or career (J12) |
| Transitional phase for the second cohort (1920-1945) (P20) | Women began to have jobs before starting families (J12) |
| High marriage and childbirth rate in the third cohort (1946-1965) (J12) | Frustrations regarding career advancement (J62) |
| Early family formation in the third cohort (1946-1965) (J12) | Limited professional opportunities (J79) |
| Aspirations for careers before starting families in the fourth cohort (1966-1979) (J12) | Challenges in balancing both (Y80) |
| Challenges in balancing both in the fourth cohort (1966-1979) (I24) | Significant childlessness rate (J13) |
| Aiming to achieve both career and family in the fifth cohort (1980-1990) (J12) | Higher success rate than previous cohorts (I23) |
| Changes in constraints faced by each cohort (J19) | Understanding of career and family outcomes (J12) |