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Seminar: Herdis Steingrimsdottir, Columbia University

Access to the Birth Control Pill and Young People´s Career Plans.
The paper explores the effect of unrestricted access to the birth control pill on young
people’s career plans and on their attitudes towards women’s labor market activities, using
annual surveys of college freshmen from 1968 to 1980. In particular it addresses the question
of who was affected by the introduction of the birth control pill by looking at career plans of
both men and women, and by separating the effect by level of academic ability. The results
show that early access to the pill caused high ability women to move towards occupations
with higher wages, higher occupational prestige scores and higher male ratios. The estimated
effects for women with low grades and from low selectivity colleges are in the opposite
direction. Men were also affected by unrestricted access to the pill, as their aspirations
shifted towards traditionally male dominated occupations associated with higher wages,
across all ability groups. The birth control pill is furthermore found to be related to friendlier
views towards married women in the labor market among students in selective colleges.
Moreover the paper uses Census data to compare the changes in career plans to actual
changes in labor market outcomes. When looking at the actual career outcomes, early access
to the pill affects both men and women - shifting their careers towards traditionally male
dominated occupations associated with higher wages. Early access to the pill is also
associated with higher income for men and higher probability of employment for women.

Time: 21.02 13.00 -14.00


Place: Department of Economics and CEBR
Porcelænshaven 16 A,


Room: 2.80



Herdis Steinsgrimsdottir.pdf



Last updated by Birgit Jensen 11/02/2011