Nobel: What Claudia Goldin's research can teach us

 Nobel: What Claudia Goldin's research can teach us

Claudia Goldin won this year's Nobel Prize in Economics for her ground-breaking work that improves our comprehension of the experiences of women in the labor market.

The Nobel Prize in Economics was awarded to economic historian and Harvard University professor Claudia Goldin this year for her groundbreaking work that improves our knowledge of women's employment outcomes. According to Mint's analysis,

What does Goldin's Nobel Prize victory mean?

One of the earliest studies in economics to highlight the contribution of women was that of Goldin. It clarified the historical pattern of the pay disparity and the causes of it. "The first comprehensive account of women's earnings and labor market participation through the centuries," the jury said about her work. Despite the fact that the number of women working is increasing, they still make far less money than males do. According to the jury, only around half of women engage in the global workforce, compared to 80% of males; they also make less money and have a lower likelihood of moving up the corporate ladder.

What are her conclusions on women in the workplace?

According to Goldin's analysis of data spanning 200 years, female involvement first fell in the 19th century before starting to grow once again in the 20th. Women used to work in agriculture, but as the economy became more industrialized, they stopped. Women began to participate in the labor market as the services sector grew and birth control pills became more widely available. In spite of this, Goldin's research revealed that there was still a significant wage discrepancy between men and women in the same profession, and that this gap increased with the birth of the first child.

How many women have won the Nobel Prize?

So yet, just 65 of the 1,000 laureates have been female. They have won the most Nobel Prizes (19), with literature coming in second (17). Three women have won the most awards in the economics field. But Esther Duflo (2019) and Elinor Ostrom (2009), who won the award before Goldin, split the honor; she is the first woman to do so.

What is the history of female labor in India?

As occupations shifted from farms to construction, industry, and services over the last 20 years, the percentage of women working in India has decreased. In India, urban married working women also exhibit a U-shaped pattern, according to the State of Working India study by Azim Premji University. The likelihood that women will leave the house to work decreases as their husbands' income grows, but it climbs once again after it exceeds 40,000 per month. Additionally, there is a significant gender wage gap, with women earning just 76% of what men do.

How can we achieve wage equality?

According to Goldin's study, raising the marriage age and investing in higher education are the two most important variables for increasing the number of women in the workforce. Wage inequalities were affected by family life; they became wider when women reduced their work hours. According to Goldin, the gender pay gap may be reduced or even eliminated "if firms did not have an incentive to disproportionately reward individuals who labored long hours and worked particular hours." She noted that the business, financial, legal, and health sectors were lacking in such adjustments.