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The Opt-In Revolution? Contraception and the Gender Gap in Wages
Martha J Bailey1, Brad Hershbein, Amalia R Miller
1Department of Economics, University of Michigan, 611 Tappan Street, Ann Arbor, MI, 48109.
American Economic Journal. Applied Economics
|June 21, 2013
Summary
The Pill enabled women to invest more in their careers, leading to higher wages. Early access to the Pill explains significant progress in closing the gender wage gap.
Area of Science:
- Economics
- Sociology
- Women's Studies
Background:
- The US gender wage gap has been extensively studied, but the reasons behind women's career path changes in the mid-20th century remain unclear.
- Understanding historical shifts in women's economic trajectories is crucial for contemporary gender equality research.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the impact of oral contraceptives (the Pill) on women's human capital investments and subsequent life-cycle wages.
- To quantify the Pill's contribution to the reduction of the gender wage gap.
Main Methods:
- Utilized state-by-birth-cohort variation in legal access to the Pill.
- Employed econometric analysis to estimate the causal effect of early Pill access on women's hourly wages at age 50.
Main Results:
- Women with earlier access to the Pill experienced an 8% higher hourly wage by age 50.
- The Pill is estimated to account for 10% of the gender wage gap convergence in the 1980s.
- The Pill's impact increased, explaining 30% of the convergence in the 1990s.
Conclusions:
- The widespread availability of the Pill significantly influenced women's educational and career decisions.
- The Pill played a substantial role in improving women's economic standing and narrowing the gender wage gap over time.
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