A selection of articles about women in economics and WEN.
Australian women would get better policy outcomes if women led economic agencies, and if women’s representation increased in the federal parliament, according to the shadow assistant treasurer, Andrew Leigh.
The World Today with Eleanor Hall, Elizabeth Jackson | The Reserve Bank of Australia has expressed concern about a dramatic reduction in the number of students taking up the study of economics at high school and university.
Economics is the organising frame for almost every policy decision made by government, and the lack of gender and other forms of diversity in economics is suppressing alternative views on what effective policy looks like. In today’s analysis, Danielle Wood (@danielleiwood) of Grattan Institute provides an analysis of the poor female representation in Australian economics, how this negatively impacts on decisions, and what can be done to address the situation. Danielle is also the Chair of the Women in Economics Network.
The Conversation Associate Professor of Economics, University of Adelaide |What is economics all about? Ask a person in the street and the most likely answer will be along the lines of “economics is about money, earning money, something similar to business and finance”. But economics is more than just the study of money – there is a whole other side of economics that many people have never thought of. It is time we spread this message to attract more students, especially women and those from minority backgrounds, into economics.
We hear a lot about the under-representation of women in so-called STEM fields - science, technology, engineering and maths.
Article in the Age by Jessica Irvine - To generations of younger Australians, the great economic reforms of the 1980s and 1990s are fading into history.
Although some of Australia’s finest economic minds are women, they remain under-represented in the discipline’s highest ranks. Article by Professor Abigail Payne, University of Melbourne
The Hon Chris Bowen MP delivered a speech to women in economics. You can read the transcript here.
The Blokey culture of finance means we're missing out on a mountain of ability
A refreshing and measured address by Professor Miranda Stewart, Professor Rachel Ong and Danielle Wood from the WEN (Women in Economics Network) at the National Press Club in Canberra gave an overview of the 2017-18 Budget that reflected on important aspects of tax policies, housing, projections and revenue with hopes of a “balanced budget still a distant fantasy”.
Senior female economists are rare in Australia and the rates of students choosing to study economics is falling.
WOMEN IN ECONOMICS NETWORK LAUNCHES ACROSS AUSTRALIA - MEDIA RELEASE
Australia’s economics profession and our broader policy debates are set to benefit from the nationwide launch of the Women in Economics Network (WEN) which will address the profession’s gender imbalance by promoting women’s involvement in economics.
Social media is easily excitable. Every day, it seems, there’s an eruption of anger and condemnation almost hourly. Be it real or fake, some sort of news has someone somewhere vowing condemnation or a boycott or a march of some kind. In almost every case a mountain has been made out of a molehill.
Australia's workforce is sharply divided on the basis of sex and is set to get even more-so as young men and women defy expectations and increasingly self-select into traditional fields of study.
If I ask you to picture an economist, what’s the first image that comes to your mind? I’m guessing it’s a man, probably with grey hair, a suit and a certain air of authority. And that’s not surprising: that is pretty much the public face of economics in Australia.
This article was written for Official Monetary and Financial Institutions Forum (Visit their website)
When Virago, the international publisher for books by women and the New Statesman magazine announced the inaugural winner of their Women's Prize for Politics and Economics in 2016, there was a flurry of press interest asking "Where are the women economists?" This followed criticism of The Economist's list of most infuential economists in 2014, which (excluding incumbent central bankers) included not one women.
My mother was a "computer", back in the days when the term applied to people. Plucked from high school because of her prowess at maths, she was put to work at the Weapons Research Establishment at Salisbury in South Australia, performing the calculations that enabled the rockets fired from Woomera to go where they should.
Reserve Bank of Australia Governor Philip Lowe prides himself on trying to fully answer questions levelled at him in public. It turned out to be a query from his family that flummoxed him.
The Guardian
Labor's Chris Bowen pushes for more women in senior finance roles
By Jessica Irvine, SMH
In my job as a financial journalist, I spend a lot of time with blokes.
Yes, you’re entitled to your opinion – but it helps if you’re a man
The Conversation by Danielle Wood