Did a rise in female professionals solve the myth of gender gap?

Book Reviewed: The XX Factor: How the Rise of Working Women Has Created a Far Less Equal World, by Alison Wolf

This is an illuminating work of Professor Alison Wolf of King College, London who has examined the lives of modern women and their career choices to determine if it has helped the status of women in the society and narrow the myth of gender gap. In this astonishing investigation, the author observes that the gender gap is closing, but in this process, it has widened the gap among women themselves. The career woman with a good education enjoys the lifestyles of her male colleagues, but this special "breed" of women also distanced themselves from millions of non-professional women who did not fare well in education or in a career. This side of feminism has consequences. It has changed the traditional life styles of successful women; they work longer than an average woman, postpone marriage, delay having children and spend less time with kids.

A transformation of labor market in 1960s and 1970s changed women's expectations and behavior; higher education, greater job opportunities, career growth, changed family values and the arrival of the pill made all the difference. A comparative look at the college educated woman of 2013 with that of 1950s and 60s illustrate the feminist impact on gender emancipation. In this work the author has used statistical data available in professional journals to evaluate if contemporary women behave similarly or there are systematic differences among them. From the data shown in this book, the author concludes that women have grown different not only from each other but also in their careers, family patterns, daily tasks and even in their bedrooms. The differences are attributed to their education and careers that turned them into elites of the society. Spending time at the golf course is more entertaining than having a quiet evening with family and friends at home.

From the charts/tables and other statistical data reproduced from academic journals, certain interesting facts emerge; most male and female graduates are equally likely or unlikely to have kids. Graduate women are far more likely to work continuously, post birth than non-professional women. Graduate mothers are more likely to cut back on their hours at work than graduate fathers. This study also finds that highly successful women with stay-at-home male partner are small. Among poorly educated women with few prospects, they often opt for single motherhood, better a baby fathered by an unsatisfactory and absent male than no baby at all is the motto. But not many graduate women make that choice. Having studied the numerous charts/tables presented in this book, one thing that is astonishing is that the sexual behavior and its frequency among career women is not too different from those of non-professional women. Another feature of this study is, although there are numerous charts studying the sexual behavior of educated versus non-educated women at different age groups, at various periods in time, various demographics, both in USA and UK, these studies do not take political persuasion of these women into their consideration.

The Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act of 2009 is long marathon for Lilly Ledbetter who worked for the Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company in its Gadsden, Alabama location, but her ordeal in her fight for equal pay for equal work made all American women proud. Yet there is a different generation of women who did not wait for the law to pass, but made difference at work place for all women.