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kpete

(71,996 posts) Mon Mar 26, 2012, 07:42 PM Mar 2012

Birth Control Access Boosts Women's Wages, Study Finds

Now, for the first time ever, a new study has connected the narrowing of that pay gap to increased access to birth control pills.

Birth Control Access Boosts Women's Wages, Study Finds
http://www.nber.org/papers/w17922

About one-third of women's wage gains throughout the 1990s can be attributed to changing laws in the 1960s and 70s that lowered the age at which women could legally access the pill.

"We found that women who had early access to the pill in the 1960s and 1970s earned 8 percent more on average by the 1980s and 1990s than women without early access," said Martha Bailey, a research affiliate at the U-M Institute for Social Research who authored the study.

When some states dropped the legal access age from 21 to 18, the report found, contraceptive use among 18- to 20-year-olds doubled. This development, in particular, allowed more college-aged women to finish school without being interrupted by an unplanned pregnancy.

"As the pill provided younger women the expectation of greater control over childbearing, women invested more in their human capital and careers," said Bailey. "Most affected were women with some college, who benefited from these investments through remarkable wage gains over their lifetimes."

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/03/26/birth-control-access-womens-wages_n_1380250.html?ref=politics&ir=Politics

7 replies

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Birth Control Access Boosts Women's Wages, Study Finds (Original Post) kpete Mar 2012 OP

Duh. mainer Mar 2012 #1

And there you have it... derby378 Mar 2012 #2

this is so fundamental. CTyankee Mar 2012 #3

Duh. Letting women control their reproductive lives turns out to benefit everyone. REP Mar 2012 #4

Sounds like more than enough reason for the TeaPubliKlans to be deadset against TheKentuckian Mar 2012 #5

No wonder AZ legislature wants to let employers have control longship Mar 2012 #6

I'd like to add: where high-school pregnancy happens, isn't "Mommy brain" a reason she drops out? StarsInHerHair Mar 2012 #7

mainer

(12,022 posts)

1. Duh.

Reply to kpete (Original post)

Mon Mar 26, 2012, 08:06 PM

Mar 2012

Gentlemen, if you want your family income to drop, just outlaw birth control. And then feeding your family is all on YOUR SHOULDERS.

derby378

(30,252 posts)

2. And there you have it...

Reply to kpete (Original post)

Mon Mar 26, 2012, 08:10 PM

Mar 2012

Apparently, there are too many Republicans who think wimmens gotta learn their "place," so here's another tool to keep her down.

CTyankee

(63,912 posts)

3. this is so fundamental.

Reply to kpete (Original post)

Mon Mar 26, 2012, 08:16 PM

Mar 2012

I wish it were just obvious to EVERYONE!

REP

(21,691 posts)

4. Duh. Letting women control their reproductive lives turns out to benefit everyone.

Reply to kpete (Original post)

Mon Mar 26, 2012, 08:19 PM

Mar 2012

No loss brainpower in the workforce; and when and if those women choose to have children, the children benefit from more educated, experienced and mature mothers (who may also be more financially stable); more financially stable households ... all this and more for the low price of treating women like human beings!

TheKentuckian

(25,026 posts)

5. Sounds like more than enough reason for the TeaPubliKlans to be deadset against

Reply to kpete (Original post)

Mon Mar 26, 2012, 08:24 PM

Mar 2012

Anything that destroys wages or stagnates them is the platinum ring for them.

No need to look any further to answer "why are the Republicans waging a war on women".

There is more to it but that is all the reason they need.

longship

(40,416 posts)

6. No wonder AZ legislature wants to let employers have control

Reply to kpete (Original post)

Mon Mar 26, 2012, 08:54 PM

Mar 2012

"All BC using women are sluts. Rush said it. That's the end of the debate!"

StarsInHerHair

(2,125 posts)

7. I'd like to add: where high-school pregnancy happens, isn't "Mommy brain" a reason she drops out?

Reply to kpete (Original post)

Mon Mar 26, 2012, 11:47 PM

Mar 2012

it takes awhile for the brain, for some mothers, to get back to the same levels. Why isn't this included in the rare sex ed class?

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