Investing in Women’s Careers

In the early 2000s, only about 5 percent of all NBA players were from Europe. As of 2017, that number had risen to almost 14 percent. During this same period, the league's revenue grew from $2.5 billion to $7.4 billion, peaking in 2019 at $8.8 billion. Since that time, the NBA has invested in global talent on behalf of its teams, and it recently opened academies in Australia, India, Senegal, and Mexico. As a result, young athletes worldwide are choosing to play basketball and invest in their skills more often. The investment is paying off: The last five NBA MVP awards have gone to players from overseas. The league grew and everyone — most of all those with the talent to play at the highest level — won.

I've been reflecting on this success story ever since I attended a recent meeting of the Richmond Fed's Community Investment Council. Members there — community leaders who understand the challenges and opportunities for local economic growth — discussed the difficulties, not of would-be basketballers, but of a much larger group: women who face the balancing act of managing a successful professional life with the societal expectations that come with being a mother.

I now think the NBA's success offers insight into what our community leaders rightly worry about: a loss of talent and skills, with women bearing the brunt, for the want of a reliable and affordable child care ecosystem. Seeing the NBA has made me ask: Can we make some specific investments in child care and work that would allow employers and women workers, and the rest of us, to all win?

To be sure, women's labor force participation has increased a lot over the years alongside decreases in the gender wage gap and increases in women's education levels and work experience, which are both causes and effects. Claudia Goldin, an economist at Harvard University who has spent her career examining female labor force participation, argues that while women have gained access to jobs over time, they still struggle to have actual careers. Careers require sustained engagement with the world of paid work, and continued investment. So interrupting a career trajectory to have children makes such investments that much harder. Goldin finds that even very highly educated women are much less likely to be in full careers, as the percentage of women with advanced degrees who work and have kids is only around 30 percent.

The trade-offs families make between child care and work are a key part of this story. Data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics show that while women with children work less, on average, men with children actually work more, a finding supported by new research in a recent Richmond Fed working paper. Surveys also indicate that mothers spend more time than fathers caring for young children. (See chart.) All of this suggests that both parents "care" for their children: women by spending more time on child care and men by working longer hours to support additional family members.