Work, for many on the career track, is greedy. The individual who puts in overtime, weekend time, or evening
time will earn a lot more—so much more that, even on an hourly basis, the person is earning more.…The
greediness of work means that couples with children or other care responsibilities would gain by doing a bit of
specialization. This specialization doesn’t mean catapulting back to the world of Leave It to Beaver. Women will
still pursue demanding careers. But one member of the couple will be on call at home, ready to leave the o ce
or workplace at a moment’s notice. That person will have a position with considerable exibility and will
ordinarily not be expected to answer an e-mail or a call at ten p.m. That parent will not have to cancel an
appearance at soccer practice for an M \& A. The other parent, however, will be on call at work and do just the
opposite. The potential impact on promotion, advancement, and earnings is obvious. The work of professionals
and managers has always been greedy. Lawyers have always burned the midnight oil. Academics have always
been judged for their cerebral output and are expected not to turn their brains off in the evenings. Most doctors
and veterinarians were once on call 24/7. The value of greedy jobs has greatly increased with rising income
inequality, which has soared since the early 1980s. Earnings at the very upper end of the income distribution
have ballooned. The worker who jumps the highest gets an ever-bigger reward. The jobs with the greatest
demands for long hours and the least exibility have paid disproportionately more, while earnings in other
employments have stagnated. Thus, positions that have been more di cult for women to enter in the rst
place, such as those in nance, are precisely the ones that have seen the greatest increases in income in the
last several decades. The private equity associate who sees the deal through from beginning to end, who did
the di cult modeling, and who went to every meeting and late-night dinner, will have maximum chance for a big
bonus and the sought-after promotion. Rising inequality in earnings may be one important reason why the
gender pay gap among college graduates has remained at in the last several decades, despite improvements
in women’s credentials and positions. It may be the reason why the gender earnings gap for college graduates
became larger than that between men and women in the entire population in the late 1980s and early 1990s.
Women have been swimming upstream, holding their own but going against a strong current of endemic
income inequality. Greedy work also means that couple equity has been, and will continue to be, jettisoned for
increased family income. And when couple equity is thrown out the window, gender equality generally goes with
it, except among same-sex unions. Gender norms that we have inherited get reinforced in a host of ways to
allot more of the childcare responsibility to mothers, and more of the family care to grown daughters.
68. Which of the following statements CANNOT be inferred from the passage?