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Prof. Zhao Yaohui: Digital Economy to Remedy ‘Motherhood Penalty’

Oct 17-2023   



In a recent media interview, Prof. Zhao Yaohui of the NSD spoke highly of Claudia Goldin’s winning the 2023 Nobel Economics Prize, and hoped that the development of the digital industry can mitigate the ‘motherhood penalty’, a topic at the center of Goldwin’s ground-breaking research.

 

Goldin became the first economist in gender research to pocket the prestigious award, for her work is of great importance and has extensive influences on the economics circle, said Prof. Zhao. Graduating with a Ph.D. in economic history from the University of Chicago, she has adopted a historical angle to observe and research women’s incomes, educational levels, and participation in the labor force over the last 200 years, and examine the major areas that are still beset by gender inequality.

 

Prof. Zhao pointed out that gender is also an important issue in China. During the era of planned-economy, some measures were taken to encourage women to work, yet since the start of the reform and opening-up, many factors have led to a decline in women’s participatory rates and incomes.

 

A serious challenge for China is the decreasing birth rate, which can be attributed to the ‘motherhood penalty’ discussed in Goldin’s research. In China and US alike, more women are going to college nowadays. Joining the work force, their incomes are comparable to those of their male counterparts until about ten years after college graduation when they begin to have a family and children. Then they are put at a disadvantage in the job market, a disadvantage that might be career long, said Prof. Zhao. As a result, many women are not willing to get married and have children.

 

Goldin found that the gender income gap can be partly explained by the divergence between industries, but can be largely accounted for by internal factors of a profession. A job that allows for flexibility results in lesser gender inequality; one that demands strict schedule and overtime work will turn away women who has a child to care for. She will then have to change to a position with a lower salary, hence the beginning of stratifications within a profession.

 

While calling for more efforts to improve nurseries, Prof. Zhao also placed hopes on the digital economy, with its power to digitalize many things, to bridge the gender gap. She cited the findings of Goldin which show that in the US, female pharmacists earn as much as male ones thanks to the fact that availability of digitized information on computers makes it unnecessary for one single pharmacist to be on duty throughout business hours.

 

According to Prof. Zhao, China’s female economists have been doing a good job researching the country’s real-life issues. Since 2002, she and Prof. Dong Xiaoyuan of the University of Winnipeg has been running a training program for female economists, many of whom have gone on to specialize in gender economics research. Currently, Prof. Zhao works on issues related to the elderly, motherhood penalty, as well as gender income gap.

Prof. Zhao Yaohui: Digital Economy to Remedy ‘Motherhood Penalty’

Oct 17-2023   



In a recent media interview, Prof. Zhao Yaohui of the NSD spoke highly of Claudia Goldin’s winning the 2023 Nobel Economics Prize, and hoped that the development of the digital industry can mitigate the ‘motherhood penalty’, a topic at the center of Goldwin’s ground-breaking research.

 

Goldin became the first economist in gender research to pocket the prestigious award, for her work is of great importance and has extensive influences on the economics circle, said Prof. Zhao. Graduating with a Ph.D. in economic history from the University of Chicago, she has adopted a historical angle to observe and research women’s incomes, educational levels, and participation in the labor force over the last 200 years, and examine the major areas that are still beset by gender inequality.

 

Prof. Zhao pointed out that gender is also an important issue in China. During the era of planned-economy, some measures were taken to encourage women to work, yet since the start of the reform and opening-up, many factors have led to a decline in women’s participatory rates and incomes.

 

A serious challenge for China is the decreasing birth rate, which can be attributed to the ‘motherhood penalty’ discussed in Goldin’s research. In China and US alike, more women are going to college nowadays. Joining the work force, their incomes are comparable to those of their male counterparts until about ten years after college graduation when they begin to have a family and children. Then they are put at a disadvantage in the job market, a disadvantage that might be career long, said Prof. Zhao. As a result, many women are not willing to get married and have children.

 

Goldin found that the gender income gap can be partly explained by the divergence between industries, but can be largely accounted for by internal factors of a profession. A job that allows for flexibility results in lesser gender inequality; one that demands strict schedule and overtime work will turn away women who has a child to care for. She will then have to change to a position with a lower salary, hence the beginning of stratifications within a profession.

 

While calling for more efforts to improve nurseries, Prof. Zhao also placed hopes on the digital economy, with its power to digitalize many things, to bridge the gender gap. She cited the findings of Goldin which show that in the US, female pharmacists earn as much as male ones thanks to the fact that availability of digitized information on computers makes it unnecessary for one single pharmacist to be on duty throughout business hours.

 

According to Prof. Zhao, China’s female economists have been doing a good job researching the country’s real-life issues. Since 2002, she and Prof. Dong Xiaoyuan of the University of Winnipeg has been running a training program for female economists, many of whom have gone on to specialize in gender economics research. Currently, Prof. Zhao works on issues related to the elderly, motherhood penalty, as well as gender income gap.