Women in economics: a UK perspective

Abstract

The status of women in economics in the US has come increasingly under the spotlight. We exploit high-quality administrative data to paint the first comprehensive picture of the status of women in UK academic economics departments in research-intensive universities. Our evidence indicates that, as in the US, women in economics are under-represented and are paid less than men. The issues facing women in economics in the UK are similar to other disciplines, particularly STEM, but have received less national policy attention to date. We conclude with a discussion of interventions that might improve the status of women in academia and we present new evidence that a UK academic diversity programme (Athena SWAN) has narrowed the gender pay gap at a senior level.

Pay transparency intervention and the gender pay gap: Evidence from research‐intensive universities in the UK

“…In particular, we observe the upward trend up until 2007 — the intervention year — and a gradual decrease thereafter, which is especially pronounced from 2009 onwards. Over the entire sample period, the raw gender pay gap ranged between around 12 per cent and 9.6 per cent, which are comparable to the gender pay gap literature in the UK (Blackaby et al., 2005; Euwals & Ward, 2005; Gamage et al., 2020; McNabb & Wass, 1997; Mumford & Sechel, 2020; Schulze, 2015), the United States (Ginther, 2001; Ginther & Hayes, 2003; Ginther & Kahn, 2014; Sutanto et al., 2014; Tao, 2018) and Europe (Corsi et al., 2014; Hospido et al., 2022).…”

“…In fact, the pay gap in the higher education sector (10.8 per cent) is higher than the national average for full‐time employees (7.9 per cent) (White, 2021). Findings from representative surveys and administrative records indicate that the gender pay gap in universities is large (Gamage et al., 2020; Mumford & Sechel, 2020) and that progress in addressing the issue is slow. The quest for better and more efficient policies to combat the problem is ongoing.…”

“If you compete with us, we shan't marry you” The (Mary Paley and) Alfred Marshall Lecture

“…Women are also more likely to face patronizing or hostile questions during economics seminars, even after controlling for fields, seminar series, and topics , and are more likely to be spoken about online with reference to their physical appearance or personal information (Wu, 2018). In the United Kingdom, the Royal Economics Society has shown that women remain chronically underrepresented at every stage of the economics profession and are paid less than their male counterparts (Bateman et al, 2021;Gamage et al, 2020). Female academic economists are more likely to be employed at lower academic ranks, on a fixed-term basis and in non-traditional posts (such as research-or teaching-only).…”

Gender economics: an assessment

“…These developments have brought to the surface that systematic discriminating behaviour based on animus may be ubiquitous rather than anecdotal. Gamage et al (2020) provide a telling summary of this new evidence in the economics profession. Processing of image data has revealed that US economics textbooks feature only men (and if there is any woman, it is always the same one-Janet Yellen, the first women president of the Fed).…”