Gender Discrimination in Economics
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- Gender Discrimination in Economics
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Bibliographic details
- Authors: LISA KOLOVICH
- Published: December 1, 2022
Overview
- Title and author: "Gender Discrimination in Economics" — LISA KOLOVICH (senior economist, IMF’s Strategy, Policy, and Review Department).
- Publication: F&D Magazine, December 2022.
- Central theme: Gender discrimination, biases, and barriers to career advancement within the economics profession; based on Ann Mari May’s book, Gender and the Dismal Science, and archival and empirical evidence.
Key findings and evidence
- Surveys and enrollment patterns:
- "Almost half" of the female respondents in a 2019 American Economic Association (AEA) survey said that they had been discriminated against based on their sex.
- "3 percent" of male respondents in the same 2019 AEA survey reported having been discriminated against based on their sex.
- Male students in US economics PhD programs outnumber female students "2 to 1".
- Historical membership and representation:
- AEA membership data beginning in "1886" shows women comprised only "5 percent" of AEA membership over the "first six decades" of the association’s existence.
- Historical timeframe covered:
- May covers the "late 19th century through the post–World War II period" in the United States.
- Barriers documented:
- Segregation in the classroom, unequal access to libraries and laboratories, and doubts about women’s inherent abilities to complete rigorous study.
- Exclusion and discrimination in hiring and promotions, publishing, and participation in professional associations.
- Publishing disadvantage linked to lack of network connections.
- Intersectionality:
- May carefully considers the importance of intersectionality and provides statistics that show women of color have been marginalized and remain vastly underrepresented in economics.
Historical narrative and institutional analysis
- Social norms and institutional resistance:
- Universities were reluctant to admit women, viewing their presence as a "dangerous experiment" or a challenge to men’s livelihoods, despite rising female high school graduation rates during the US Civil War era.
- Social norms and views on the incompatibility of marriage with an academic career constrained women’s contributions to the field.
- Archival and empirical approach:
- Drawing on AEA archives and a wide range of empirical data, May traces the evolution of social norms, institutional barriers, and overt exclusion across hiring, publishing, and professional association participation.
- Personal narratives:
- The book interweaves stories of female trailblazers, referred to as "tenacious persisters," and includes personal perspectives and tales of triumph.
Implications and conclusions
- Professional inconsistency:
- May highlights the disconnect between economics as a discipline that studies the harms of monopolies and discrimination and the profession’s own history of exclusion and discrimination.
- Call to action:
- The narratives of champions, advocates, and "tenacious persisters" are intended to spur economists, regardless of gender, to break down glass walls and glass ceilings and to diversify a far-too-homogeneous profession.
Policy-oriented takeaways (implicit from the analysis)
- Recognize and address structural barriers in academic hiring, promotion, and publication processes that have historically disadvantaged women.
- Improve access to professional networks and mentorship opportunities to mitigate publishing and career-advancement gaps.
- Account for intersectionality in diversity efforts to address the especially acute marginalization of women of color in economics.
- Promote cultural and institutional changes that reconcile career paths with family and marital norms that have historically excluded women.
Source: F&D Magazine, December 2022 — "Gender Discrimination in Economics" (LISA KOLOVICH).
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- Gender Discrimination in Economics