A century ago, it was a given that a woman with a college degree had to choose between having a career and a family.

Today, there are more female college graduates than ever before, yet challenges persist at work and at home. Claudia Goldin traces how generations of women have responded to the problem of balancing career and family as the twentieth century experienced a sea change in gender equality, revealing why true equity for dual-career couples remains frustratingly out of reach. Antidiscrimination laws and unbiased managers, while valuable, are not enough.

Career and Family explains why we must make fundamental changes to the way we work and how we value caregiving if we are ever to achieve gender equality and couple equity.