Career or Family: A Woman’s Difficult Choice (On the Nobel Prize in Economics in 2023)

Abstract

This article presents the achievements of the 2023 Nobel laureate in economics, Harvard University professor Claudia Goldin. The obstacles to women’s employment related to the fact that the initially established structure of jobs was focused on male labor are considered. The “quiet revolution” discovered by the laureate and consisting of a sharp increase in the age of first marriages and a switch in women’s motivation from earnings to careers is analyzed. The importance of flexible working conditions when women choose a place of work and increasing women’s participation in the economy was highlighted. As an example of maximum effort and approach to working conditions convenient for women, the laureate cites the pharmaceutical sector, both industry and trade. The problems of the existence of a “natural level” of women’s participation in the economy are touched upon. Finally, the impact of the 2021–2022 pandemic on women’s choice between career and family is examined.

Keywords

• women’s work and labour
• inequality
• career
• family
• employment
• family responsibilities
• natural level
• flexible working conditions
• time of marriage
• contraceptives
• abortion
• pandemic