26 | The debate around sexism in economics has turned toxic in the US. A 22-year-old student at the University of California, Alice Wu, analysed message posts at an anonymous chatroom used by economics graduate students (Economics Job Market Rumors), a forum that gives a sense of what economists talk about when they’re ‘off duty’. She tracked words most associated with males and females. With men the words were work-related; but for women it was a litany of terms about physical appearance, many of which were quite offensive. While it’s debatable how representative this evidence might be of the economics community in general, it’s an indication of an undercurrent of discriminatory attitudes that’s also implied by other research. An American Economics Association members survey in 2019 suggested that almost half of female economists had experienced discrimination based on sex (compared to 3% of men) and seven in ten felt their work was not appreciated and respected (compared to four in ten men). Other academic work has shown that female economists have to produce higher quality papers in order to be accepted into the top journals; are less likely to get credit for joint work with men in terms of academic promotion; and when there’s media coverage, a male co-author is the one more likely to be quoted. Having more women and underrepresented minorities in economics matters. As with all areas of work, diversity of perspectives and insights is important for balance, for innovation, for ensuring fairness in society. A survey by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) in 2018 showed that women have different opinions to men on aspects of economic policy including monetary, fiscal and social policy. For example, women tended to support more environmental regulation and stronger employment protection. For gender equality it’s also important that women have the same access to careers in what can be a highly-paid profession. INFLUENCING CHOICES Around a third of economics undergraduates in the UK and US are female. In the US, 13% of academic posts are filled by women, 15% in the UK. Working with a colleague at a US university, we looked at how female role models might have an influence on choices. Unlike the UK, first year undergraduates make their choices after they begin their studies, giving them chance to attend a range of classes, explore different options and interests. Two female undergraduates were asked to pick out the two most inspiring from a list of economics alumni, including both men and women. Those two alumni then came to the university to give talks about their career experiences and how economics has helped them; not focusing on their experience as women specifically, but as successful economists. The audience was naturally randomised, as one half of the year group was selected to attend the talk which was part of their regular lecture programme; meaning we could look at the influence of role models without worrying about ‘self-selection’. We made use of administration records a couple of years after the role model talk took place to look at the numbers of students who chose to attend economics classes, and most importantly, those who decided to take Economics as their ‘major’ option or main degree. We found there was no effect on the choices of male students; but for women it was a different story. There was a significant increase in the numbers of women enrolling onto economics classes, and almost a doubling in the number who majored in Economics to around 14% of the total. The figures showed that the effects of the role models were stronger in the immediate period after the talk and, though they faded a little over time, ʼʼ A survey by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) in 2018 showed that women have different opinions to men on aspects of economic policy. ʻʻ
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy NTI5NzM=