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Housewife, “gold miss,” and equal: the evolution of educated women’s role in Asia and the U.S

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  • Jisoo Hwang

    (Hankuk University of Foreign Studies)

Abstract

The fraction of U.S. college graduate women who ever marry has increased relative to less educated women since the mid-1970s. In contrast, college graduate women in developed Asian countries have had decreased rates of marriage, so much so that the term “Gold Misses” has been coined to describe them. This paper argues that the interaction of rapid economic growth in Asia combined with the intergenerational transmission of gender attitudes causes the “Gold Miss” phenomenon. I present a simple dynamic model then test its implications using U.S. and Asian data on marriage and time use.

Suggested Citation

  • Jisoo Hwang, 2016. "Housewife, “gold miss,” and equal: the evolution of educated women’s role in Asia and the U.S," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 29(2), pages 529-570, April.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:jopoec:v:29:y:2016:i:2:d:10.1007_s00148-015-0571-y
    DOI: 10.1007/s00148-015-0571-y
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    Cited by:

    1. Hwang, Jisoo & Park, Seonyoung & Shin, Donggyun, 2018. "Two birds with one stone: Female labor supply, fertility, and market childcare," Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control, Elsevier, vol. 90(C), pages 171-193.
    2. Ong, David & Yang, Yu (Alan) & Zhang, Junsen, 2020. "Hard to get: The scarcity of women and the competition for high-income men in urban China," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 144(C).
    3. Erin Hye-Won Kim & Adam Ka-Lok Cheung, 2019. "The Gendered Division of Household Labor over Parenthood Transitions: A Longitudinal Study in South Korea," Population Research and Policy Review, Springer;Southern Demographic Association (SDA), vol. 38(4), pages 459-482, August.
    4. Haaland, Venke Furre & Rege, Mari & Telle, Kjetil & Votruba, Mark, 2018. "The intergenerational transfer of the employment gender gap," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 52(C), pages 132-146.
    5. Hwang, Jisoo & Lee, Chulhee & Lee, Esther, 2019. "Gender norms and housework time allocation among dual-earner couples," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 57(C), pages 102-116.
    6. Afridi, Farzana & Arora, Abhishek & Dhar, Diva & Mahajan, Kanika, 2023. "Women's Work, Social Norms and the Marriage Market," IZA Discussion Papers 15948, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    7. Charles Kenny, Dev Patel, 2017. "Gender Laws, Values, and Outcomes: Evidence from the World Values Survey - Working Paper 452," Working Papers 452, Center for Global Development.
    8. Neyt, Brecht & Vandenbulcke, Sarah & Baert, Stijn, 2019. "Are men intimidated by highly educated women? Undercover on Tinder," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 73(C).
    9. You, Jing & Yi, Xuejie & Chen, Meng, 2016. "Love, Life, and “Leftover Ladies” in Urban China," MPRA Paper 70494, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    10. Chen, Xi & Ge, Suqin, 2018. "Social norms and female labor force participation in urban China," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 46(4), pages 966-987.
    11. You, Jing & Yi, Xuejie & Chen, Meng, 2021. "Love, life, and “leftover ladies” in urban China: Staying modernly single in patriarchal traditions," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 68(C).

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Marriage; Education; Female labor force participation; Cultural transmission;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • J12 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Marriage; Marital Dissolution; Family Structure
    • D10 - Microeconomics - - Household Behavior - - - General
    • Z10 - Other Special Topics - - Cultural Economics - - - General

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