Much has been written about the income returns to education, but women have been largely ignored by this literature, having historically spent significant periods of time outside the formal labor market. In a thought-provoking new study, economists from Brigham Young University correlate women's education to future quality of life through an examination of husband's earnings. Specifically, the researchers find that a woman's college completion predicts an average increase in her husband's earnings of more than $20,000 relative to women who only attended some college.

Women with mental disorders are less likely to have screening mammograms than women without mental illness, although the nature of the mental illness does play a role, according to a large study published by Indiana University School of Medicine and Richard Roudebush VA Health Services Center for Excellence researchers in the October issue of Journal of General Internal Medicine. Prior to this study, little was known about whether the type or severity of mental illness influences receipt of preventive services such as mammograms.