<p>"For the first time, American women have passed men in gaining advanced college degrees as well as bachelors degrees, part of a trend that is helping redefine who goes off to work and who stays home with the kids.</p>
<p>Census figures released Tuesday highlight the latest education milestone for women, who began to exceed men in college enrollment in the early 1980s. The findings come amid record shares of women in the workplace and a steady decline in stay-at-home mothers..."</p>
<p>Question: do women pursue advanced degrees at higher rates than men because they have a harder time finding or maintaining or justifying gainful employment with an undergraduate degree only?</p>
<p>Note that the average woman still only earns 78% of the salary of the average men, even though the average woman has completed more formal education.</p>
<p>I wonder how changes in the average age of the first birth affected this measure. I can imagine when middle class women used to have children in their early twenties, the idea of an extra six years after college before starting a career seemed less palatable. Now that women tend to have children later, I am not surprised that more are going for advanced degrees.</p>
<p>I wouldn’t be surprised if the causation went the other way round: women get children later in order to focus on their education and career first.</p>
<p>Barlum: bingo!</p>