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RESEARCH MAKING THE NEWS


The Toll of Parenting on the American Woman's Work Week

Sarah Holder │ │November 22, 2019


More women than ever are serving as CEOs of Fortune 500 companies, though still far fewer women than men reach this level. American women are being paid more in general, but still less than men. And according to new research, they're also working more hours—again, however, fewer than men—and they are starting to outnumber men in part-time work. These disparities are even more pronounced when the women are mothers and the men are fathers, and they're persistent, according to a report released by the Institute for Women's Policy Research last week.


Citing: Gender Inequality, Work Hours, and the Future of Work by Ariane Hegewisch, M.Phil. and Valerie Lacarte, Ph.D. at Institute for Women's Policy Research


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Head Start for Campus Childcare

Madeline St. Amour │ │October 31, 2019


Improving funding so that federal Head Start programs can partner with colleges could be the answer to the childcare needs of studet parents, who numbered 3.8 million in the 2015-16 academic year, according to a study released Wednesday from the Institute for Women's Policy Research. One of the biggest challenges for Head Start is funding. The report recommends that policy makers increase funding for the program and provide more funds for campus childcare, as well as designating funds for campus Head Start programs in areas with high need. It also recommends that colleges reach out to Head Start to form partnerships.


Citing: Head Start-College Partnerships as a Strategy for Promoting Family Economic Success A Study of Benefits, Challenges, and Promising Programs by Barbara Gault, Ph.D. Lindsey Reichlin-Cruse, M.A., Tessa Holtzman, Susana Contreras-Mendez, M.A. at Institute for Women's Policy Research


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Today's Kids Might be Digital Natives—But a New Study Shows They Aren't Close to Being Computer Literate

Valerie Strauss│ │November 16, 2019


Today's kids are "digital natives," raised in a world of technology that they know like the back of their hand. As it turns out, that's not necessarily true about Generation Z (the demographic cohort following the millennials born in the mid- to late 1990s). Results were recently released from the International Computer and Information Literacy 2018 study, and they were sobering: Only 2 percent of students scored at the highest levels implied by digital native status, and only another 19 percent of the 42,000 students asessed in 14 countries and educational systems could work independently with computers as information-gathering and management tools.


Citing: International Computer and Information Literacy Survey at National Center for Education Statistics


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Math Looks The Same In The Brains of Boys and Girls, Study Finds

Jon Hamilton ││ November 8, 2019


There's new evidence that girls start out with the same math abilities as boys. A study of 104 children from ages 3 to 10 found similar patterns of brain activity in boys and girls as they engaged in basic math tasks, researchers reported Friday in the journal Science of Learning. The finding challenges the idea that more boys than girls end up in STEM fields (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) because they are inherently better at the sort of thinking those fields require. It also backs other studies that found similar match abilities in males and females early in life.


Citing: Gender Similarities in the Brain During Mathematics Development by Alyssa J. Kersey, Kelsey D. Csumitta and Jessica F. Cantlonat at Science of Learning


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Female Artists Made Little Progress in Museums Since 2008, Study Finds

Julia Jacobs │ │September 19, 2019


Over the past decade, there has been a sense in the art world that gender equity was on the horizon: Emerging female artists were landing high-profile solo shows, museums were staging women-themed exhibitions, grants were being awarded to boost female artists, and long-neglected artists were being given overdue recognition. This assumption of progress is being sharply challenged by new data showing that between 2008 and 2018, only 11 percent of art acquired by the country's top museums for their permanent collectes was by women. And contrary to any hope that acquisitions of artworks by women are inchin upward, the percentage remained relatively stagnant, according to the data, released on Thursday.


Citing: Museums Say They Are Paying More Attention to Female Artists. They Are Not. by Charlotte Burns, Julia Halperin and Julia Vennitti at Art Agency, Partners


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NEW RESEARCH REPORTS


Marriage and Cohabitation in the U.S.

Juliana Menasce Horowitz, Nikki Graf and Gretchen Livingston

Pew Research Center | November 6, 2019


As more U.S. adults are delaying marriage—or forging it altogether—the share who have ever lived with an unmarried partner has been on the rise. Amid these changes, most Americans find cohabitation acceptable, even for couples who don't plan to get married, according to a new Pew Research Center survey. Even so, a narrow majority says society is better off if couples in-long term relationships eventually get married. The survey also examines how adults who are married and those who are living with an unmarried partner are experiencing their relationships. It finds that married adults are more satisflied with their relationship and more trusting of their partners than those who are cohabitating.


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Examining the Consequences of Poor Neonatal Health on the Family

Dara Lee Luca and Purvi Sevak | Mathematica │ November 1, 2019


Using a 15-year panel from the Fragile Families & Child Well-being Study, Mathematica examines the consequences of poor birth outcomes for both the child and her family. They apply entropy balancing and weighting methods to account for differences between families who have a child with poor neonatal health versus those who do not. Findings show that children with poor neonatal health are more likely to be diagnosed with a disability and to receive Supplemental Security Income. Mothers who have children with poor neonatal health are more likely to reduce labor force participation at both the intenstive and extensieve margins when the child is young. Further, they are more likely to receive benefits from the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program and the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families program. Findings show no significant effects of poor neonatal health on maternal mental health or household income. However, parents who have children with poor neonatal health are significantly less likely to remain married or cohabitating.


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Health "I Know What's at Stake": How Homelessness Impacts College Success in New York City │Young Invincibles │November 18, 2019


New York City is in the midst of an educational crisis: the increasing share of students experiencing homelessness. A 2019 Hope Center survey of 22,000 City University of New York undergraduates found that 14 percent had experienced homelessness while enrolled in classes. More than half of the survey's respondents experienced some form of housing insecurity over the last year. To better undrstand the challenges that young New Yorkers face when navigating college and unstable housing, Young Invincibles spoke with more than 60 young adults across New York City. The report examines the barriers these young people outlined, along with insights from leading researchers, service providers, and government officials.


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Pay Transparency and the Gender Gap

Michael Baker, Yosh Halberstam, Kory Kroft, Alexandre Mas and Derek Messacar │Statistics Canada│September 16, 2019


This paper uses Current Population Survey data to document changes in job quality for 1979-2017 with measures of decent-, low- and lousy-wage jobs for groups defined by age, gender, education, race and nativity. These indicators are defined by two wage threshold formulas chosen to reflect the wage a full-time worker requires for a basic-needs budget: 2/3 of the mean wage for full-time prime-age workers ($17.50 in 2017), which marks the cutoff between decent- and low-wage jobs; and 2/3 of the median full-time wage ($13.33), the boundary between lousy- and other low-wage jobs. These thresholds generate decent- and low-wage segments (55% and 45% of jobs in 2017), each with two wage contours. A wide variety of non-wage job quality indicators (e.g., benefits, time-off, work scheduling and physical conditions) are found to vary systematically across these four wage contours, from worst in the lousy-wage contour (29% of jobs) to best in the good-wage contour (33% of jobs).


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Are Women Really Opting Out of Work After They Have Babies?

US Census Bureau │July 23, 2019


The "opt out" revolution of high-earning women exiting the labor force to have babies, widely publicized in the early 2000s, may have been overstated. This phenomenon of opting out is actually not widespread. In fact, recently released historical fertility tables show an increase in labor force participation rates in the last decade among women ages 16 to 50 who gave birth within the last 12 months. These findings show that most women with a recent birth are in the labor force—expecially those with an advanced degree.


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The Institute for Women's Policy Research (IWPR) is a 501(c)(3) tax-exempt organization that conducts and communicates research to inspire public dialogue, shape policy, and improve the lives and opportunities of women of diverse backgrounds, circumstances, and experiences. Find out more about IWPR at iwpr.org.
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