1. The Power of the Pill: Oral Contraceptives and Women’s Career and Marriage Decisions Simpreet Sivia, Suniti Santosh, Brian McLean, Jessica Vodouris and Andrew Blair

2. Goal of the Study Determine whether legalization of birth control pill altered women’s career plans and their age at first marriage – answer is that they did.

3. Background 1960: FDA approves the use of norethyndodrel as an oral contraceptive for women 1962: Ortho Pharmaceutical Corp. enters the oral contraceptive market 1969: Yale University opens one of the first college family planning clinics with access to all students 1971: July 1 – the 26 th Amendment is ratified; most states also lower the “age of majority” 1972: The U.S. Supreme Court overturns the Massachusetts law prohibiting the sale of contraceptives to unmarried persons

4. Data and Methods

6. Regression 1. Age at First Marriage and State Law Changes in Pill Access 2. Career and Marital Status Outcomes: Aggregate Cohort Analysis Y = a + δ + γ 1 X + γ 2 P + γ 3 A + u M = α + δ + β 1 X + β 2 P + β 3 A + δ = Dummy for Year of Birth X = Dummy Variables for Demographics P = Dummy for availability of birth control at age 18 A = Dummy for availability of abortion

7. Key Results Legalizing the pill is directly related to the increase in the number of women attaining professional degrees and increasing the age of their first marriage. Importance Pill is not necessarily for demographic change, but important in promoting real change in the economic status of women.