Claudia Goldin traces five generations of American women who pursued both career and family, analyzing why true equality between dual-career couples remains elusive despite a century of progress. Goldin, a Nobel Prize-winning economist at Harvard, combines economic analysis with historical narrative to explain how women's educational achievements and labor force participation have transformed while the structure of work has not. She identifies 'greedy work'--jobs that reward long hours and constant availability with disproportionate compensation--as the primary remaining barrier to equality. When couples have children, one partner (usually the woman) must step back from greedy work to provide flexibility, sacrificing earnings and advancement. Goldin examines how different professions vary in their 'greediness' and explores policy interventions that might reduce the premium for constant availability without sacrificing productivity. She traces generational shifts in expectations: women who expected to work briefly before marriage, women who expected sequential careers and family, women who expected simultaneous career and family, and younger women who have achieved unprecedented equality before children but face the same constraints after. The book provides both diagnosis and prescription, arguing that the problem is structural rather than individual and that solutions require changing how work is organized rather than simply urging women to lean in.