Case Study on Baby Baubles and Opportunity Costportunity Cost

Baby Baubles and Opportunity Cost
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Historically, women have often been marginalized in the community. They were not afforded equal rights to men. They were denied voting rights and a chance to advance in their careers. Today's women have been liberated, and they have the same rights as men. The time is right to be a female. This can be attributed to the women empowerment groups in the community and civil rights groups which champion for women's rights. Women are now being treated as men equals, and this has afforded them an opportunity to advance their careers. Organizations have developed more mature policies to address harassment at the workplace, equal pay as well as gender inequality. Women can now enter the workforce and be expected to work at the same level as men or even surpass them. Women are increasingly getting prominent roles in the workplace and better pay. Women today are being paid better salaries and wages relative to their male counterparts than their mothers and grandmothers used to be paid. The advancement of women in the career ladder has left them with a hard choice to make. They now have to choose between their careers or childbearing or strive to strike a balance between the two. They are faced with having to give up their careers by having to take time off to care for their children. If they end up taking time to take care of their children, it may end up hurting their careers. This is a choice they have to carefully consider before making a decision. Losing their careers is the opportunity cost for childbearing for today's career woman. Statistics show that women are more likely to say that taking time off their jobs to take care of a family member hurt their careers more than men do, (Madowitz, 2016). This paper examines the opportunity cost faced by career women in having babies.
College education has had an impact on fertility. More women are now going to college in comparison to earlier years. Higher education affects the career aspiration of women, family roles, labor market involvement, and fertility. There is a demographic divide between highly educated women and the less educated in the United States. More women are going to college from a background where previously they were not. Most women who are highly educated delay their time of childbearing. They end up having fewer children than women who are less educated. Opportunity cost plays an important role in this scenario. In making a family as well as career decisions, women have to weigh some competing factors. Childbearing and college education place a demand on the energy, commitment and time of college-going women, (Teghtsoonian, 1997). These demands compete owing to the incompatibility between having quality education and childbearing. College-going women will more often than not choose education over childbearing. In doing so, they weigh the pros and cons of making either of the two choices to choose what will bring more gains than the other. Higher education will guarantee them a high standing in society. This will make them command more respect than their uneducated counterparts. A college education will also boost their chances of getting a better job when they enter the labor market. ...