Work, for me, is one of the greatest joys in life. It’s exhausting, and there are certainly days I’d rather be out in the sun playing soccer, but I love my job.
It’s not just a matter of women doing housework, because housework isn’t included when we measure the labour force: the number of people who work or are prepared to work.Goldin, who was the first woman to be tenured in Harvard University’s economics department, has made many inroads into women’s labour market outcomes. One common misconception she has tackled is that as an economy develops, the share of women in the labour force grows with it.
As the economy continues to develop, the level of education in the population increases, but mostly among men to begin with. This raises incomes, but not women’s productivity – relative to men’s – further reducing women’s labour force participation. Here we get to the bottom of the U-curve. Goldin says increased labour force participation is important because there is evidence that as women’s work moves outside the home and family, women tend to gain more freedom to make decisions and participate, politically, socially and even in their own homes.
‘Only a husband who is lazy, indolent and entirely negligent of his family would allow his wife to do such labour.’