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Title: From the Valley to the Summit: The Quiet Revolution That Transformed Women's Work
Resulting in 1 citation.
1. Goldin, Claudia
From the Valley to the Summit: The Quiet Revolution That Transformed Women's Work
NBER Working Paper No. 10335, National Bureau of Economic Research, March 2004.
Also: http://www.economics.harvard.edu/~goldin/papers/valleytosummit.pdf
Cohort(s): NLSY79, Young Women
Publisher: National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER)
Keyword(s): Age at First Marriage; Career Patterns; Job Aspirations; Labor Force Participation

Meaningful discussions about "women at the top" can take place today only because a quiet revolution occurred about thirty years ago. The transformation was startlingly rapid and was accomplished by the unwitting foot soldiers of an upheaval that transformed the workforce. It can be seen in a number of social and economic indicators. Sharp breaks are apparent in data on labor market expectations, college graduation rates, professional degrees, labor force participation rates, and the age at first marriage. Turning points are also evident in most of the series for college majors and occupations. Inflection or break points in almost all of these series occur from the late 1960s to the early 1970s and for cohorts born during the 1940s. Whatever the precise reasons for change, a great divide in college-graduate women's lives and employment occurred about 35 years ago. Previously, women who reached the peaks often made solo climbs and symbolized that women, contrary to conventional wisdom, could achieve greatness. But real change demanded a march by the masses from the "valley to the summit." That march began with cohorts born in the late 1940s.
Bibliography Citation
Goldin, Claudia. "From the Valley to the Summit: The Quiet Revolution That Transformed Women's Work." NBER Working Paper No. 10335, National Bureau of Economic Research, March 2004.