Access to pill boosts women's earnings - study

[Julian Englis]

Source: MSNBC

A new study may add tinder to the debate over whether the federal government ought to require health insurance plans to pay for contraception. New research shows that access to birth control pills over the past 50 years has translated into higher pay and better careers for women.

After scrutinizing data from a multidecade survey, University of Michigan researchers determined that women who had access to birth control pills when they were in their late teens and early 20s tended to be better educated and better paid 20 years later compared to women who couldn’t get oral contraceptives. Women who had early access to the pill were making 8 percent more than those who didn’t.

“Arguably the pill had some pretty big benefits for these women,” said the study’s lead author Martha J. Bailey, an assistant professor of economics at the university. “I certainly would like an 8 percent pay raise.”

The new study, published as a working paper by the National Bureau of Economic Research, used data from two long-term surveys: one that looked at health and another that looked at labor force outcomes. Both tracked women for decades.

Read more: http://bottomline.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/03/29/10905591-access-to-pill-boosts-womens-earnings-study

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Wolverines!

Another explanation of why the radical right hates the pill.

[freshwest]

1. Very true. Keep 'em barefoot and pregnant really keeps families broke.

Family planning, even without abortion, is taking responsiblity for your life and keeps people working.

The alternative is to have those mythical families where the father makes enough money to support a family with only one income, who never gets laid off and can afford a dozen kids, house, healthcare, etc. Makes you wonder if they are stealth commies or something.

When one manages the size of one's family by contraception, it's a recipe for people living as productive individuals. They hate that idea.

[KamaAina]

2. That's because it keeps them out of the low-wage labor pool

Once you have a kid, s/he has to be fed and clothed, even if that means Mom is stuck working at Walmart instead of getting her degree.

Walmart's original business model, by the way, was based on the availability of cheap female labor in Ozarks towns after WWII, when the men came down from the mountains and into town for factory jobs.

[felix_numinous]

3. Access to the Pill gave women power

to be a fully self actualized sexual being while not worrying about getting pregnant, if she wishes.

Hilarious to read an article that claims this to be a "new" discovery--how long has the Pill been around? Let's do the time warp again!!

[lunatica]

4. This has been known for half a century

The pill liberated women completely. For the first time in history women had the same freedom men had always had. It changed our economy, our culture and our way of life so completely that these ass holes who can't stand the competition just want to hobble women, just like they want to hobble Blacks and Hispanics for the same reason.

My fervent hope is that most of those white men will be dead soon from old age. Then people like Santorum will be such a minority that they'll need government laws to give them a chance at equal opportunity.

[Darth_Kitten]

5. Wow, shouldn't hard work and a decent education help out women?