The Wall Street Journal has recently published two interesting articles regarding female demographics. One had to do with women who decide to be full-time homemakers. 29% of all mothers with children under 18 stayed at home, the highest number recorded since the late 1980s. 85% of married stay-at-home mothers are doing so by choice, not necessity, much higher than other demographic segments.
The other article discussed the findings about income difference between genders. It took them a bit to get to the meat of the findings, but they did a good job summarizing it. Men and women in the same fields with the same experience tend to make the same amount. However, genders tend to make different decisions during their career (e.g., men are more likely to pursue life-threatening occupations that pay more and women are more likely to work part-time or stay home for several years when a child is born).
Taken together, these articles and other findings indicate that at as long as my daughters are well educated, they will have ample opportunities to either work at a career, work at building a family, or a combination of both. Obviously there is still room for improvement, but the data provides ample room for optimism.
