“Unequal Parenting,” a new episode of the “What Makes Us Human?” podcast series, examines persistent inequalities in parenting and the earnings penalties that go along with them. The podcast’s fifth season – “What Do We Know about Inequality?” – showcases the newest thinking across academic disciplines about inequality.
“Women’s earnings fall relative to their partners’ after having a child, making them more economically dependent and financially vulnerable, especially given the high incidence of divorce,” says Kelly Musick, director of the Cornell Population Center and professor and department chair of policy analysis and management in the College of Human Ecology.
Musick studies changing family patterns, with a focus on how they relate to social inequality. She has published on women’s childbearing intentions, the quality and stability of cohabiting relationships, social class differences in family formation, well-being in parenting, and the mechanisms linking family environments and child well-being. Current projects expand on these themes to address issues at the intersection of parenting, work and well-being from a cross-national perspective.
The “What Makes Us Human?” podcast is produced by the College of Arts and Sciences in collaboration with the Cornell Broadcast Studios and features audio essays written and recorded by Cornell faculty. New episodes are released each Thursday through the spring semester, airing on WHCU and WVBR.
The episodes are also available for download on iTunes and SoundCloud and for streaming on the A&S humanities page, where text versions of the essays are also posted.
