Corinne Low, Ph.D., and Jessica Calarco, Ph.D. - Having It All

Video Description

For women in America today, the promise of “having it all” is an ever-elusive carrot. Faced with unsustainable demands in every sphere, we are certainly doing it all but at a steep cost. Research shows that biologically, culturally, and economically, we are on uneven playing ground, and one that drains us of our happiness. But that same data can empower us to make choices that will reclaim our time, our energy―and even our joy. In her new book "Having It All: What Data Tells Us About Women's Lives and Getting the Most Out of Yours," Corinne Low, Ph.D., an associate professor of business economics and public policy at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, unpacks the hidden factors that influence women’s decision-making, and how the unintended consequences of these choices alter the course of our lives. From when and whether to get married and (or) have children to what type of career to pursue, whether to obtain an advanced degree to where to live, Low explores questions such as 1) what if there is no optimal time to “have a family” but rather a slew of different considerations at different life stages?; 2) what if we approached decisions around marriage and partnership as rigorously as we would an employment opportunity; and 3) what if we valued our time in dollars and cents, and structured our lives around choices that give us the greatest return on our investments? Low has spoken to and advised firms like Google, IFM Investors, Uber, Activision Blizzard, and Amazon Web Services, in addition to teaching in Wharton’s Executive Education programs. Low has given talks to top academic institutions like Harvard University, Stanford University, and Oxford, as well as to the New York Federal Reserve, Brookings Institution, and the US Department of Labor, among others. Low will be in conversation with award-winning teacher Jessica Calarco, Ph.D. (FAN ’24), a sociologist and professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and the author of the 2024 book "Holding it Together: How Women Became America’s Social Safety Net."