The XX Factor: What women really think.

Linda Hirshman on Opting Out

A guest post from Linda Hirshman, author of Get to Work:

XX Factor is full of talk of how the Times just corrected its 2003 opt-out story about why women quit their jobs (it's the economy, stupid). Short version: Female factory workers' wages decline and they won't work for less. Then they cover their decision with talk of falling in love with their babies.

I don't know about Lisa Belkin, who wrote the most famous version,  but I feel compelled to remind Slate's readers that her opt-out story was about high class dames, many her Princeton classmates, workers at the Maytag plant not so much. The women who announced their weddings in the New York Times and inspired me to tell them to Get (back) to Work, similarly tony bunch. Unclear to me why these stories are rebutted by a study of the working class, not to diss the working class, but during the recent economic bad stuff, Princeton grads didn't actually experience wage cuts. Here's the estimable Wikipedia on what happened to the classes, rather than the masses:

Considering how education significantly enhances the earnings potential of individuals, it should come as no surprise that individuals with graduate degrees have an average per capita income exceeding the median household income of married couple families among the general population ($63,813).[21][22] . . . While educational attainment did not help reduce the income inequality between men and women, it did increase the earnings potential of individuals of both sexes, greatly enabling many households with (a) graduate degree householder(s) to enter the top household income quintile.[21]

Household income also increased significantly with the educational attainment of the householder. The US Census Bureau publishes educational attainment and income data for all households with a householder who was aged twenty-five or older. The biggest income difference was between those with some college education and those who had a Bachelor's degree, with the latter making $23,874 more. Income also increased substantially with increased post-secondary education. While the median household income for a household with a household holding an Associates degree was $51,970, the median household income for those with a Bachelor's degree or higher was $73,446. Those with doctorates had the second highest median household with a median of $96,830; $18,289 more higher than that for those at the Master's degree level, but $3,170 lower than the median for households with a professionals degree holding householder.[18]

Congressional economists say that babies don't predict dropouts, even among the top earners, but they are bailing for some reason, and  it sure ain't plant closings at Debevoise. I tend not to think that women are lying to me when I interview them. Maybe the laid-off washer-makers tell sociologists they love their babies when they actually just hate their paychecks, but I don't think the Times brides were having me on.