The American Claudia Goldin received the Nobel Prize for Economics at the age of 77, becoming the third woman among the already 93 leading women in economics. For discovering the key factors behind gender differences in the workplace and for ‘advancing the understanding of women’s outcomes in the labor market’ – says the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences – the Harvard economics professor and co-director of the Group of Sciences Gender Studies in the Economics of National Bureau of Economic Research, conquered the formally known Sveriges Riksbank of Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel, which earns him an 18-karat gold medal, a diploma and an award of 11 million Swedish kronor, the equivalent of one million dollars.
Goldin’s research, which collected more than 200 years of data covering the United States of America (USA), made it possible to establish the first “exhaustive” description of women’s income and labor market participation across over the years. years, centuries. What brought about changes, but also the main causes of the gender difference that still exists, are factors that are now becoming clearer thanks to the work of the teacher.
The conclusions show that women’s labor market participation did not show an increasing trend over time, but rather a U-shaped curve, with the intervention of married women in the transition from agricultural to industrial reality at the beginning of the 19th century declined. .
With the growth of the service sector in the early 20th century, women’s participation increased, reflecting structural changes and the evolution of society regarding women’s roles at home and within the family. Yet, despite modernization, gender differences in the labor market persist, especially in terms of pay.
“In a sense, there is a very ironic and symbolic side to the fact that the Nobel Committee has decided to give this prize to Claudia Goldin, when she has done precisely this very important work on women’s participation in the labor market,” says Susana Peralta . , professor at the Nova School of Business and Economics (Nova SBE), as Goldin is only the third woman to receive a Nobel Prize in Economics.
It should be noted that the North American was in fact the first woman to receive the prize solo, after her predecessors Elinor Ostrom (2009) and Esther Duflo (2019), after being awarded the Nobel Prize for work she had done together with other colleagues conducted. .
Yet, despite the symbolism identified, the short-term impact on the lives of other female scientists, “often relegated to the background,” is unlikely to be “outstanding,” the professor explains. However, he emphasizes that “the recognition of the role of a scientist who makes real contributions in these areas is extraordinary.”
Referring to specific research, she also explains that from the 1970s onwards, the North American professor identifies the phase in which women’s participation in the labor market is no longer viewed from the perspective of ‘secondary bread earning from a household’.
Instead, this evolutionary stage, identified by the now Nobel Laureate in Economics, shows a woman entering the market to build a career, making this also part of the woman’s own identity construction. The contraceptive pill and subsequent marriage were two of the factors that Goldin believed contributed to women’s liberation from the family economy and their acceptance of a role in society through participation in the labor market.
Susana Peralta, who calls Goldin an economic historian, also emphasizes the “long-term perspective” of the North American, who in her research identifies issues such as the wage gap, but also the importance of motherhood, which leads to women suffering “professional punishments” .
In fact, while gender income gaps can be explained by differences in educational and occupational choices, Claudia Goldin’s research has shown that much of the wage inequality currently exists between women and men working in the exact same profession. differences that become particularly pronounced at the birth of the first child.
Also regarding the Harvard professor’s research, the chairman of the Prize Committee for Economic Sciences, Jakob Svensson, stated that understanding the role of women in the labor market is “important for society,” and that “thanks to the groundbreaking research ” by Claudia Goldin, Much more is now known about the underlying factors and what “barriers may need to be overcome in the future”.
The Economics Prize was established by the Swedish central bank in 1968 and was the last Nobel Prize to be announced after the winners in the categories Medicine, Physics, Chemistry, Literature and Peace were announced. The official awards ceremonies will take place in Oslo and Stockholm in December.
Source: DN
