Fast-Track Women and the “Choice” to Stay Home
Abstract
of these reforms centers on an argument concerning the inefficiencies that they breed, there is value in demonstrating the conditions under which they may actually create more efficient outcomes. Fast-Track Women and the "Choice" to Stay Home Pamela Stone, Hunter College, CUNY; and Meg Lovejoy, Brandeis University The phenomenon of women who leave professional careersto become stay-at- home moms has been little studied. When these women quit work, it may signal to supervisors and colleagues that women are not committed to work, and this may lead to discrimination against women workers in general. The portrayal of women's decisions about work and family has been described as part of a broad backlash against feminism and gender egali- tarianism. Women with professional degrees are out of the labor force at a rate about three times that of their male counterparts, and they overwhelmingly cite family responsibilities as the reason. To get at the actual reasons, we need an understanding of their actions and the complex decision making leading up to them. The findings by Stone and Lovejoy contradict the view that women's decisions are an expression of their unfettered preferences for home over career. Women have a high degree of