Gender Pay Disparity "Still A Problem": Nobel Prize Winner Claudia Goldin

Claudia Goldin said Monday that her selection as the Nobel Prize winner was a crucial recognition for women economists studying the workforce, but that persistent gender inequality remains a problem.

The Nobel is a "very important prize, not just for me, but for the many people who work in this field and who are trying to understand why there is so much change, but there are still large differences" in pay, Claudia Goldin told AFP in a telephone interview.

The 77-year-old Harvard professor, who is the third woman to be awarded the prestigious economics prize, was given the nod "for having advanced our understanding of women's labor market outcomes," the Nobel jury said.

"Her research reveals the causes of change, as well as the main sources of the remaining gender gap," it added in a statement.

Women in the United States had gained significant ground in their education level, "but in many places their promotion and pay hasn't," said Goldin, who attributed the gap largely to "the interaction between the market place and the home and the family."

Claudia Goldin praised a Biden administration measure to boost child care services by tying programs to federal funding for semiconductors investment, but that the policy was not a panacea.

"That's certainly a move in the right direction. You know, it's a drop in the bucket," she said.

Claudia Goldin said she is personally concerned about policies in many parts of the US restricting abortion, but that "I never, or I rarely mix any politics with my work."

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