Ezra points to a Dani Rodrik post lauding the news that worldwide, the gap between men’s and women’s educational achievement and workforce participation is closing, as it has in the United States. Rodrik writes:
This signals coming changes in the role of women in the family, the economy and in marriage. … More couples will have a more educated wife whose income earning capacity will exceed that of their husbands. How this will change power relationships and family roles is a fascinating topic.
Although this is good news, I’m skeptical that family relations between men and women will change very much until women’s incomes catch up with men’s. As we’ve seen here in the U.S., the gender pay gap is stubborn — even between men and women with the same level of educational achievement and the same number of years on the job. So we can’t just look at women’s workforce participation; we have to consider the status of the jobs they’re doing and what they’re getting paid. After all, across the world, power in relationships can be deeply affected by who is holding the purse strings.
–Dana Goldstein
