Table 1.

Characteristics of fields of study of U.S. women graduates (from SIPP) and fields of study of women completing some U.S. college (from NLSY79), women born 1960–79

	Arts and humanit ies	Educati on	General studies	Health sciences	Private and public administrat ion	Science and technol ogy	Social sciences	Overall
2001, 2004, 2008 Survey of Income and Program Participation
Motherhood employment penalty	15.70	12.30	13.90	9.20	15.80	15.20	16.30	14.00
Per cent men	42.20	22.90	50.20	20.70	55.80	70.60	36.70	50.2
Per cent of women married by 26	37.00	54.40	37.20	46.40	39.00	39.80	37.20	41.4
1979 National Longitudinal Survey of Youth
Traditional family attitudes	1.92	1.98	1.88	1.98	1.92	1.86	1.85	1.92
Number of Observations
(NLSY)	294	406	194	590	1200	534	354.0	3572
Number of Observations (SIPP)	2,586	3,100	3,166	1,527	3,555	2,183	2,103	18,220

Note: Motherhood employment penalty was calculated as the difference in labour force participation rates between women with children under the age of five and all other women in each field. Per cent men and motherhood employment penalty were calculated using 2001, 2004 and 2008 SIPP samples of college graduates aged 21–55. Attitudes from the NLSY79were measured in 1979, when individuals were 14–21 years old. 1982 attitudes were used when 1979 values were missing.

Source: 2001, 2004, and 2008 Survey of Income and Program Participation (SIPP) and the 1979 National Longitudinal Survey of Youth (NLSY79). SIPP women aged 21–55 who had obtained at least a bachelor’s degree by SIPP interview. NLSY79 women aged 14–21 in 1979 who had completed at least some college course by the 2008 interview