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Career, Private Life, and the Well-Being among College-educated West German Women

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  • Schaubert, Marianna

Abstract

This paper describes to what extent college-educatedWest German women manage to reconcile a career and a private life. In addition, it explicitly investigates how the concurrence of career and cohabitation/family/motherhood is linked to women’s life satisfaction. I attempt to overcome the difficulties associated with estimating this relation using fixedeffects models. The results suggest that only a small fraction of woman-year observations is categorised as having a career and cohabitation/family/children simultaneously. Considering different birth cohorts and generations of West German women, there are no significant improvements in the reconciliation between career and family. Further, while there are life-satisfaction gains related to both “career” and “cohabitation/family” separately, their interaction terms throughout are negative.

Suggested Citation

  • Schaubert, Marianna, 2015. "Career, Private Life, and the Well-Being among College-educated West German Women," VfS Annual Conference 2015 (Muenster): Economic Development - Theory and Policy 113042, Verein für Socialpolitik / German Economic Association, revised 2015.
    • Handle: RePEc:zbw:vfsc15:113042
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Claudia Goldin, 2004. "The Long Road to the Fast Track: Career and Family," The ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, , vol. 596(1), pages 20-35, November.
    2. Tiziana Nazio & Hans-Peter Blossfeld, 2003. "The Diffusion of Cohabitation among Young Women in West Germany, East Germany and Italy," European Journal of Population, Springer;European Association for Population Studies, vol. 19(1), pages 47-82, March.
    3. Marianne Bertrand, 2013. "Career, Family, and the Well-Being of College-Educated Women," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 103(3), pages 244-250, May.
    4. Gert G. Wagner & Joachim R. Frick & Jürgen Schupp, 2007. "The German Socio-Economic Panel Study (SOEP) – Scope, Evolution and Enhancements," Schmollers Jahrbuch : Journal of Applied Social Science Studies / Zeitschrift für Wirtschafts- und Sozialwissenschaften, Duncker & Humblot, Berlin, vol. 127(1), pages 139-169.
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    Keywords

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    JEL classification:

    • D19 - Microeconomics - - Household Behavior - - - Other
    • J17 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Value of Life; Foregone Income
    • J19 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Other

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