Female representation in economics continues to lag behind other fields, according to figures from Universiteiten van Nederland. Yrla van de Ven, science communicator at VU School of Business and Economics, incorporated those figures in an insightful article. “The percentage of female professors in economics has increased to 16.2 percent in 2022, but is still lower than in all other fields of science. Also, the share of female professors in economics is increasing at a slower pace than in other fields, with a 5.9 percentage points increase between 2022 and 2016," the ESB article reads.
The underrepresentation of women already starts at the student level. “The proportion of female students in economics (28%) is still lower than the average (53%), and the proportion has barely increased in six years’ time (4 percentage points).
According to Arjen van Witteloostuijn, Dean at the School of Business and Economics, the article in ESB shows that there is still a lot of work to be done. “We have been slowly catching up in recent years, but it’s not going fast enough. I’m happy with this article, because it forces all economics and business schools in the Netherlands to face the facts. It is necessary to increase our efforts.”
Within the School of Business and Economics, the proportion of women varies by research group and also by discipline. “A task force led by Klarita Gërxhani is currently analyzing the diversity within our faculty and coming up with recommendations. This will allow us to review the policy within the School of Business and Economics."
Klarita Gërxhani, Professor of Social Economics, conducts research on gender equality, discrimination and the effect of competition on women and men. On International Women's Day, she will give a lecture on how gender bias and discriminatory practices disadvantage women, at the “Koninklijke Industrieele Groote Club” in Amsterdam. The ESB article provides much food for thought, according to Gërxhani. "The article shows that about as many women as men start with a PhD in economics, but higher up the academic ladder women get stuck or leave the academic world. I could think of many possible causes, such as gender bias or the competitive structures that disadvantage women. I hope the research within our own school will provide more insight into the possible causes and solutions."
Gërxhani also hopes that there will be more attention for the low proportion of women studying economics. "We need more female role models, in the media as well as the lecture hall. Too many adolescents believe that economics is a mostly interesting for men. And the teaching material in secondary schools is full of gender prejudices."
The article in ESB is an update of an earlier article from 2018, that was part of the Women in Economics special. Bas Jacobs, professor of economics and public finance at Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, was one of the initiators of that special.
More information
For more information, please contact science communicator Yrla van de Ven, y.f.van.de.ven@vu.nl, +31 6 26512492.