OK, I hate to sound like a broken record, but here's yet another study that shows that the wage gap and the "glass ceiling" exist because of women's decisions about motherhood.  In just the past couple of weeks, I've written about studies of MBA graduates, attorneys and now this one which deals with math-intensive fields like engineering.  Indeed, its findings are applicable to all academic fields.

In this one, three researchers at Cornell University analyzed some 400 existing studies and concluded that, although women have closed the gender gap in math test scores, their representation in fields like engineering doesn't reflect that achievement.  Why not?  Their conclusion is the same as in the other studies I've reported on - women drop out of the profession to have kids.  And as in the other studies, women and men begin their careers on the same level, but women tend to opt out of the labor force (or limit their time in it) to devote time to family while men tend not to.

As the authors state, corroborating much pre-existing literature on the subject,

"The one research finding related to the underrepresentation of women in all academic careers, not just those that are math-intensive, that is robust, incontrovertible, and based on up-to-date information, is that women’s fertility choices, and the timing of when to have children, are powerful predictors of career success..."

As I've said before, some will try to spin these studies as showing the need for more state-subsidized childcare.  But here, as in the case of the MBAs and the lawyers, engineers and academics have the money to pay for daycare if they want to minimize the separation from work a new child may cause.  But that's not what these women are doing.  They have the option to pay for care, but instead they're choosing to stay at home.

That's certainly understandable and no one should criticize them for making it, but let's be clear - it's a choice they're free to make or not.  If women choose home over office (or office over home), they'll get no quarrel from me.  But all those choices do not a glass ceiling make.

Here's the study (Psychological Bulletin, 2009).

This entry was posted on Thursday, June 4th, 2009 at 4:38 pm and is filed under Men, Women and Work. You can trackback from your own site.