{
  "title": "Gender Discrimination in Economics",
  "sourceUrl": "https://www.imf.org/en/publications/fandd/issues/2022/12/book-review-gender-discrimination-in-economics-ann-mari-may",
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  "summary": "Gender discrimination and the associated biases and barriers to career advancement are unwelcome realities for many working women, and the economics profession is no exception.",
  "sections": [
    {
      "heading": "Overview",
      "content": "- Title and author: \"Gender Discrimination in Economics\" — LISA KOLOVICH (senior economist, IMF’s Strategy, Policy, and Review Department).\n- Publication: F&D Magazine, December 2022.\n- 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."
    },
    {
      "heading": "Key findings and evidence",
      "content": "- Surveys and enrollment patterns:\n  - \"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.\n  - \"3 percent\" of male respondents in the same 2019 AEA survey reported having been discriminated against based on their sex.\n  - Male students in US economics PhD programs outnumber female students \"2 to 1\".\n- Historical membership and representation:\n  - 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.\n- Historical timeframe covered:\n  - May covers the \"late 19th century through the post–World War II period\" in the United States.\n- Barriers documented:\n  - Segregation in the classroom, unequal access to libraries and laboratories, and doubts about women’s inherent abilities to complete rigorous study.\n  - Exclusion and discrimination in hiring and promotions, publishing, and participation in professional associations.\n  - Publishing disadvantage linked to lack of network connections.\n- Intersectionality:\n  - May carefully considers the importance of intersectionality and provides statistics that show women of color have been marginalized and remain vastly underrepresented in economics."
    },
    {
      "heading": "Historical narrative and institutional analysis",
      "content": "- Social norms and institutional resistance:\n  - 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.\n  - Social norms and views on the incompatibility of marriage with an academic career constrained women’s contributions to the field.\n- Archival and empirical approach:\n  - 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.\n- Personal narratives:\n  - The book interweaves stories of female trailblazers, referred to as \"tenacious persisters,\" and includes personal perspectives and tales of triumph."
    },
    {
      "heading": "Implications and conclusions",
      "content": "- Professional inconsistency:\n  - 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.\n- Call to action:\n  - 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."
    },
    {
      "heading": "Policy-oriented takeaways (implicit from the analysis)",
      "content": "- Recognize and address structural barriers in academic hiring, promotion, and publication processes that have historically disadvantaged women.\n- Improve access to professional networks and mentorship opportunities to mitigate publishing and career-advancement gaps.\n- Account for intersectionality in diversity efforts to address the especially acute marginalization of women of color in economics.\n- Promote cultural and institutional changes that reconcile career paths with family and marital norms that have historically excluded women.\n\nSource: F&D Magazine, December 2022 — \"Gender Discrimination in Economics\" (LISA KOLOVICH).\n\n---\n\n Content in this bundle\n\n- Gender Discrimination in Economics\n  - Gender Discrimination in Economics (Markdown version){rel=\"alternate\" type=\"text/markdown\"}\n  - Gender Discrimination in Economics (PDF){rel=\"external\" type=\"application/pdf\"}\n\n---\n\nSource: https://www.imf.org/en/publications/fandd/issues/2022/12/book-review-gender-discrimination-in-economics-ann-mari-may"
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    "Authors: LISA KOLOVICH",
    "Published: December 1, 2022",
    "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.",
    "Surveys and enrollment patterns:",
    "Historical membership and representation:",
    "Historical timeframe covered:",
    "Barriers documented:",
    "Intersectionality:",
    "Social norms and institutional resistance:",
    "Archival and empirical approach:",
    "Personal narratives:",
    "Professional inconsistency:",
    "Call to action:",
    "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.",
    "**Gender Discrimination in Economics**"
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