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I think not. First of all, it is personal choice in what you do with your life regardless of the education you receive. I departed from the field of architecture to explore the public policy field, returned partially to urban planning, and I might even end up doing something totally different. But admittedly, women are more likely to stay at home compared to men because they are perceived to be better care-givers and home makers than men.
Personal choice arguments aside, as Half Sigma points out, “Elite education is all about status, and it’s mathematically impossible for more than 1% of the people to be in the top 1% of the status bell curve.” We do not sign a bond when we join college that we will be employed in the field that we were trained. The “seat wastage” argument frankly doesn’t hold water because real education is never wasted. An educated mom is definitely better than one who isn’t, although she doesn’t become a better mother simply by being more educated e.g. a ‘PhD mom’ vs. a ‘bachelors degree mom’. Doing a PhD is less about acquiring proficiency in the particular field than it is about persistence and learning rigors of research. Why do you think engineers
who do a graduate degree in business are more preferred by employers than their peers? Also would it matter if women are more likely to ‘drop out’ if they graduate from second-tier colleges instead of elite
colleges? Worth a look, eh?
But what does it mean for women seeking to find a foothold in an intensely competitive world heavily prejudiced against hiring women? Does it mean that employers will be less likely to hire women because
they might quit anytime? They might be inclined to offer a lesser compensation as compared to men. As Half Sigma also points out, employers are looking for short-term gains and do not expect you to hang around for more than three years anyway. If you are really that motivated and ambitious, you would be compensated adequately and may balance your tradeoffs of career and home. The erudite Becker-Posner
blog has an opinion too.
I am in no position to comment on choices that a woman makes regards home and career and I would definitely appreciate if anyone out there would be willing to comment extensively on this issue (either in the comment box below or on your blog; send me a trackback if you do).
by Patrix | on Thursday, September 29th, 2005 at 6:00 am | 
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September 29th, 2005 at 8:33 am reply
The reason I don’t worry about education being wasted is because most education is a waste anyway. I do computer programming for a living despite having three degrees (one undergraduate and two graduate) that have absolutely nothing to do with computer programming.
September 29th, 2005 at 12:22 pm reply
First of all, why do we think that a good career is the sequel to a good education? To a certain extent education is a necessity, beyond which, it becomes more of a choice. We study with different goals in our minds, and to me our choice of having a career, or rather, not having one, should not be limited by what kind of degrees we have. Traditionally, women were just home-makers, but now, they have a choice. They are exploring these choices and choosing whatever is it that they want to choose – be it being at home or having a career. To each of us, our life is our own definition, defined by having a family or a career or being a hippy. And ultimately that’s what leads to our choices. Plus, with men choosing to be at home, the traditional roles are reversing.
Although a PhD might have its advantages, being mom, is a lot more than just having alphabets added behind your name. I don’t think that a PhD or a BS, would make one a good or bad mother.
As far as education goes, it never goes wasted. Hell, even if we don’t apply it, we can always pass it on, or learn more just because.
September 29th, 2005 at 12:35 pm reply
well if its were india you think so. but i think in this country…even though it seems a lot of women are getting education, they might actually going towards careers that make you of their feminine traits…coz that’s really what sells here. i mean look at people here scoff at “intelligent women” or a “woman for president”.
BTw….linked you.
September 29th, 2005 at 1:40 pm reply
Perhaps more women are pursuing higher education than men, because it gives them an added advantage “in an intensely competitive world heavily prejudiced against hiring women”. Just a thought.
Also the reports you link to talk about graduates from elite colleges. Maybe some of these women can ‘afford’ to not work. Education fulfils their thirst for knowledge. Beyond that, if there is no need nor inclination to work, why would they ?
I wonder what similar studies from the lower tiers of colleges would turn up. I would expect that there might not be many women graduating with PhDs, but those with a B.S, or M.S would be working - purely for financial reasons.
After all, if money wasn’t an issue, how many of us would be working in the fields in which we were trained ??
September 29th, 2005 at 5:25 pm reply
Half Sigma, of course what you are trained to do and what you ultimately do in your life can be totally different but putting yourself through the rigors of education at least makes you more likely to succeed in life, right?
Queer, you have echoed most of my thoughts and of course changing trends in the society have to be taken into account as well.
Khotta, but if you think economically, they don’t differentiate much between genders here unless you climb down the economic ladder. Thanks for the link.
Ash, you have brought out interesting points; something that will further this discussion. A survey of second and third tier colleges would definitely be useful to cross-check the validity of these claims. I suspect that it would be less significant if not totally reverse.
September 30th, 2005 at 1:53 am reply
Patrix, Kieran Healy has a set of three posts on this topic, instigated by the same NYTimes story you linked to.
‘Nuf said.
September 30th, 2005 at 1:16 pm reply
This is an interesting post…….
….one of my former collegues (a post-doc in my lab), now is a “PhD mom”. She’s an excellent scientist, who contributed substantially to research while she was here (very much “first tier”, with a PhD from Duke in Biochemistry, and a post-doc in my lab…considered one of the leading labs in its area in the world), but is no longer in active science, and is totally involved in bringing up her baby. It was completely her choice, and she’s quite happy about her choice, she wanted to do it……..
So….i wouldn’t over analyze the issue……
September 30th, 2005 at 2:42 pm reply
Abi, Thanks for those links. Made great reading.
Sunil, it is a matter of free will but at the same time, we have to understand the social pressures that women face.
November 14th, 2005 at 2:34 pm reply
I can’t believe it, my co-worker just bought a car for $37538. Isn’t that crazy!