So this came across my desk at work and I thought it was interesting to examine the findings of this Study from a redpill perspective. Link: http://www.bccat.ca/pubs/ALookBack_report_Jan2015.pdf

The Study takes a look at the level of employment, education and other activities of 574 men and women over a 22 year period, 1989-2010, right after they graduate from high school. The differences in men and women are...stark. And the change of behavior in women in reaction to the 2008 financial crisis is interesting.

Time Range of study: 1989-2010 (22 years)

Sample Size: 540

Finding #1 From People with Bachelor Degrees:

Men eased into continuous full-time work at a rather steady pace from about five years following high school graduation. For women, entry into the continuous full-time work force was both slower and more gradual.

How much slower? The trend for women gaining full time employment looks like an exponential curve. As time progresses the number of women who are full time workers exponentially grows to 60% as they start to reach the age of 43. At the age of 34 however, roughly only 15% of women are employed full time. Sometime between the age of 34 and 43 women start to exponentially shift to full time work as they age...for some reason. huh.

For men however, the trend for obtaining full time employment is different. Instead of an exponential curve, you see a steady straight 45 degree line of men obtaining full time employment right after they graduate from university with a degree. By the age of 34, 25% of men are employed full time. As men reach the age of 43, 70% work full time.

Finding #2:

the life course trajectories of men showed fewer states other than full-time work than did women.

Finding #3:

A higher proportion of women than men had post-secondary credentials and almost 60% of both women and men had earned baccalaureate level credentials or higher. Yet, this was not translated into sustained full-time employment for women.

Finding #4:

The “great recession of 2008” is almost always associated with economic hardship in terms of unemployment or underemployment. This was indeed the case for both men and women in this study. September 2008 marked a shift for 31% of men and 26% of women in from other states into either part-time work or an “other” state. However, whereas at the same point in time 6% of men shifted from other states into full-time work, 28% of women did so! What did the 2008 financial crisis mean for women? Were they required to seek out full-time work because of precarious employment situations for their male partners? What compelled, enabled, or required these thirtysomething women to secure full-time employment?

What I find interesting about this finding is that it indicates that at least 28% of women are capable of full time work, but are only willing to do so in the event of a global financial crisis that may impact their other source of income, ie men.

Some further thoughts by the author that I found amusing:

the loss of human capital to the workforce by educated underemployed women or women who were out of the workforce, as documented in this report, is remarkable. It could be that women “choose” not to work full-time, but “choice” entails multiple considerations such as available and affordable daycare and shared domestic labour, to name two. As Esping-Andersen (2009) comments, “women may now be working but that does not necessarily entail that society has been altered in any fundamental way. The really pertinent evidence lies therefore elsewhere, namely whether the way citizens go about their lives has lost any resemblance with the past . . . . [in other words] that women’s and men’s decisions about marriage, parenthood, or work are distinct from that of our forbearers”

I love the vagueness of this quote used by the author, since it can be seen from a feminist or redpill perspective. In any case, the study concludes with:

that women are far less likely than men to be employed full-time, regardless of control variable employed, is troubling and requires ongoing rigorous examination.

TLDR: full time labor participation by women is much lower then men. women obtain full time employment at an exponential rate as they get older, while men obtain full time employment on a steady and consistent basis as they age. The global financial crisis in 2008 spurred 28% women to switch from part-time work to full time work, indicating that they can achieve full time work, (even in an economic crisis) but will only do so if they feel pressure from a lack of resources from their male counterparts.