AGE OF MOTHER
AT FIRST BIRTH (Percent distribution of women having their fi rst birth by year and age 1970–2007)
40 & older 30-39
20-29 Under 20
1970
32 1975
By many indicators, 21st-century women in the United States are living lives that are dramatically diff erent from those of their grandmothers. T ey are rapidly out- pacing men in enrollment and graduation from college and graduate school. T ey are having fewer children and are having them later in life. And while they are catching up to men in terms of income, they still have a way to go before they reach parity. T ese are some of the key conclusions
B 1980 1985 Continued on page 33
of “Women in America: Indicators of Social and Economic Well-Being,”a report issued in March 2011 by the White House Council on Women and Girls. T e council was created by President Barack Obama two years ago to help the nation shape a coordinated response to the social and economic challenges facing women. T e Offi ce of Management and Budget and the U.S. Commerce Department compiled the report, which is touted as the fi rst far-reaching study comparing the status of contemporary American women to those of earlier generations. T e report examines several aspects
DIVERSITY & THE BAR® MAY/JUNE 2011
of women’s lives, including educational achievement, income, career choices, health, and their standing in the criminal justice system—as either victims or perpe- trators of crime. While the report doesn’t focus specifi cally on the lives of women lawyers, the conclusions apply to women of all occupations in the workforce. A careful look at the data reveals that
the movement toward women’s equality in the workplace, which began in the 1960s, has had a major eff ect on women’s personal and academic choices. For example: • In the 1970s, only 47 percent of women in America had their fi rst child at age 30 or older. In 2007, that fi gure was 24 percent.
• In 1950, women got married, on the average, before they were 21 years old. But in 2008, they waited, on average, till they were 26. And college-educated women married, on average, at age 30.
• In 1976, only 10 percent of women between ages 40 and 44 had never had a child. In 2008, that fi gure nearly doubled, to 18 percent.
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