The View | How educated women increase income inequality
As more women become well-educated, more of them will be married to well-educated men, and household inequality rises further
The economic rise of women has been spectacular. More women now attend universities than men, and with higher graduation rates. Their wage rates are higher than men’s at the same age and education level before marriage. These huge strides are the result of multiple forces.
Throughout most of human history, women have been disadvantaged in the labour market and in education because of the enormous amount of time they have to spend giving birth to and raising children. This time commitment increases when infant mortality rates are high and life expectancy is low.
But women have become increasingly liberated from such a role as a result of a combination of falling infant mortality rates, rising life expectancies, growing education and labour market opportunities arising from the acceptance of liberal republican values, and rising economic growth. This has led to them having fewer children and investing in raising higher-quality children.
The trade-off of quality over quantity has contributed to late marriages and even lower fertility rates. It has also led to greater investments in the next generation. A higher-quality next generation is the prime driver of economic growth. So the liberation of women from household work has contributed to economic growth both by enlarging the labour force and by improving its quality over time.
However, it also has a downside because it has contributed to greater household income inequality, even though individual income inequality within the adult population has become more equal.
This brings fresh concerns about widening intergenerational economic inequality, which could be seriously compromised if well-off families make substantially more investments in their children than less well-off families – sufficient, for example, to offset the equalising effects of publicly funded schooling and health care.