Women in the Economics Profession

Abstract

he early 1970s was a watershed for women in many academic fields, including economics. As the feminist revolution swept through the nation and government pressure to equalize employment opportunities in the workplace increased, academia began to evaluate its own performance and attitudes toward women. In 1971, an informal women's caucus got a series of resolutions passed at the AEA Annual Meeting by proposing them unexpectedly and stacking the meeting with supporters. As part of these resolutions, the AEA set up the Committee on the Status of Women in the Economics Profession (CSWEP). The committee was ad hoc at first, but later changed to a standing committee. Its mandate was to ferret out the facts on discrimination against women in economics and to make "recommendations for affirmative action." The resolution even called for CSWEP and the AEA to use these facts in amicus curiae briefs in discrimination complaints or suits, although CSWEP has never chosen to exercise this option.Since that time, women have made great inroads in the economics profession. Far more women are represented at each level of the profession. Salary differentials between the sexes have fallen. Awareness has increased. Yet the percentage of women among full professors remains only 4 percent. It seems apt at this point, more than two decades later, to reassess the economics profession's record on women. Just as physicians are sometimes admonished to heal themselves, economists should presumably be able to do a better job than other academic specialties of measuring and understanding gender differences within our own labor market.The growth in the proportion of new Ph.D.'s awarded to women during the '70s and '80s is shown in Table 1. Despite this growth, the proportion of doctorates