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Economisch Statistische Berichten Dossier SINCE 1916 ISSUE 4767S - 1 NOVEMBER 2018 - VOLUME 103 WOMEN IN ECONOMICS Composed by the ESB editors and made possible by financial support from the Dutch economics and business faculties ESB Preface Preface ESB Women in economics or a way too long time, Finkelstein and Carmen Rein- economics has had a hart. I dare predict that some of shameful reputation them will win a Nobel prize in Fwhen it comes to the role of the future. ‘women in economics’. Female Many economics departments staff and female professors have are acutely aware of the under- been, and still are, very much representation of females among underrepresented, even when their staff. In recent years,hiring taking into account their lower rates of female assistant and enrolment rates in BA, MA and associate professors have risen. PhD programmes. Over time, they will be promot- A highly competitive academic ed to the ranks of full professor culture may have deterred and gender gaps will gradually females from entering the pro- be reduced. fession. Economists generally BAS JACOBS In the Netherlands, more and adhere to the idea that com- Professor at the Erasmus University more female economists are pre- petition is a good thing, and is Rotterdam and President of the Royal sent in economic policy and the necessary to foster academic Netherlands Economics Association public arena. Think of Barbara progress. Moreover, extreme Baarsma, Marieke Blom, Laura specialization allows researchers to exploit their com- van Geest, Sandra Phlippen, Mirjam van Praag, Esther- parative advantages. Economists take great pride in Mirjam Sent, Sheila Sitalsing, Marike Stellinga, just to publishing in the best economics journals. And good name a few. publications are the ‘key currency’ in making an aca- Only this month, Gita Gopinath, an outstanding demic career. However, if competition is too much of a professor of international economics from Harvard, good thing, female scholars may be put off. has been appointed as the IMF’s first female chief econ- Female economists may also experience more difficul- omist. She joins Pinelopi Koujianou Goldberg, chief ties in making their academic careers. Economists might economist of the World Bank and Laurence Boone, be more prone to rejecting ideas of discrimination of chief economist of the OECD. female teachers and researchers. Their natural reaction There is still a long way to go, but I believe that the is to find this plainly inefficient and incompatible with future of women in economics will be brighter than competitive forces that could drive out discriminatory its rather dark past. This special issue contains many practices from academia (Friedman, 1962). However, if suggestions for improving their position and makes discrimination is present but neglected, the academic fascinating reading. labour market will fail, female academic careers will be damaged and their human potential wasted. Still, times are changing for the better. We now all are familiar with role models with stellar academic records, REFERENCE such as Susan Athey, Marianne Bertrand, Anne Case, Friedman, M. (1962) Capitalism and freedom. Chicago: University Janet Currie, Asli Demirgüç- Kunt, Esther Duflo, Amy of Chicago Press, chapter 7. Volume 103 (4767S) 1 November 2018 1 ESB Content ESB Content Content Introduction: Being a good sport JASPER LUKKEZEN 4 Too few women in the economics debate SYLVIA TEUNISSEN AND COEN HOGENDOORN 6 Taking stock 10 Invisible barriers to the top for female economists HARRY VAN DALEN 11 Successful economists are highly masculine BELLE DERKS, RUTH VAN VEELEN AND MICHEL HANDGRAAF 16 Infographic: Gender in economic institutions ESB 20 Female econometricians are the future IVO ARNOLD 22 Experiences 26 Interview with Siv Gustafsson JASPER LUKKEZEN 30 Report: Academics on the gender imbalance in economics ELISA DE WEERD 30 Column: Happy to be a role model MIRJAM VAN PRAAG 34 Column: How I became a feminist ESTHER-MIRJAM SENT 35 2 Volume 103 (4767S) 1 November 2018 Content ESB Solutions 36 A behavioural view of women’s underrepresentation in economics ANNE BORING AND THOMAS BUSER 37 How to make being successful in economics more inclusive ANNE-WIL HARZING, CLAARTJE VINKENBURG AND MARLOES VAN ENGEN 42 Revealed preference and gender equality HEIN SCHREUDER 49 Still no more than a foot in the door ELINE VAN DER HEIJDEN 51 Women in economics: a lifelong discouragement HENRIËTTE PRAST 52 Policy 58 What economics faculties are doing about female scarcity? JANNEKE PLANTENGA 59 Column: NWO’s role in improving gender balance JAAP SCHOUTEN AND STAN GIELEN 63 Volume 103 (4767S) 1 November 2018 3 ESB Women in economics Being a good sport here is good and there is bad news. First The share of female professors in economics is current- the good news of course. Explicit dis- ly 10 percent, as Teunissen and Hogendoorn mention crimination against women in the Neth- in this issue and as the infographic shows. erlands is definitely something of the This is bad news, and it requires all of us to take Tpast. In our project, we did not encounter any rules a firm stand on the issue. Changing an environment prohibiting women from taking certain positions or takes a concerted effort by everyone participating in managers stating that certain jobs are unsuitable for it. Which seems even harder than addressing explicit women. discrimination. In fact, in a survey by Janneke Plantenga in this The environment’s unforthcoming nature is hard ESB special issue, all the deans of Dutch economics to pinpoint. In his survey among Dutch economists, and business faculties indicate that they are actively Harry van Dalen does not report a lot of significant trying to hire more female staff members and have differences between male and female academics except the policies in place in order to do so. Moreover, they as to work pressure, while Ivo Arnold shows that have provided ESB with the funds to put together this female econometric students slightly outperform their special issue offering insights from recent academic male counterparts. work into causes and solutions and putting it on the Economics and business stands out as particu- discipline’s agenda. Also, Jaap Schouten and Stan Giel- larly high in features that are generally perceived to en write about the many policies that are in place to be more masculine, like self-confidence and competi- improve the opportunities for women to receive fund- tiveness, and low in traits that are generally regarded ing from the Netherlands Organisation for Scientific as more feminine, like cooperativeness and modesty. Research (NWO), the most important public funding Instances of this have cropped up during the academ- institute in the Netherlands. ics’ ‘the round table’, in the interview with Siv Gustafs- son – one of the first female professors in economics in A CONCERTED EFFORT the Netherlands – as well as in Esther-Mirjam Sent’s The bad news is that the environment in which column. Belle Derks, Ruth van Veelen and Michel research into economics and business takes place, is an Handgraaf also have ascertained this in their survey of environment in which women do less well than men. Dutch academic culture. They find that here the big- A cohort effect, in which the share of first-year female gest discrepancy is between the female economist’s students or female PhD students a few decades ago is self-reported masculinity and the reported masculinity a good proxy for the share of female professors today, they think is necessary for a successful career. seems implausible. It appears that there still is a barrier for women trying to attain a professorial appointment. MAD MEN Van der Heijden (1993) reports that 25–30 years ago That the culture within economics may be an issue the share of female students was 25 percent on average might be hard to understand for economists who are and the share of female PhD students was 18 percent. trained to think in terms of market forces and the like. Why is this ESB dossier in English? The subject matter demands it. English is the main language of the economics and business faculties in the Netherlands, so an ESB dossier about the people who work there should be in English. Most of ESB’s publica- tions tend to be in Dutch. 4 Volume 103 (4767S) 1 November 2018 Introduction ESB Being a good sport Perhaps a discussion of Figure 1 may help. The Rotter- NEXT STEP dam School of Management (RSM) recently adopted Much more can be done than merely addressing stere- a new corporate branding and issued postcards to alert otypes. Anne-Wil Harzing, Claartje Vinkenburg and its staff members to the change. Marloes van Engen provide a comprehensive resumé I love the Mad Men theme of the postcards and of studies – published in peer-reviewed journals over the gleeful anticipation on the faces. I think the con- the past two years – into various measures that depart- trast in colour between the kitchen apron and the rest ments can take. In addition, Anne Boring and Thomas of the image works well. And I really think the ‘pun’ on Buser provide a motivation from behavioural econom- huisstijl (branding) is funny. ics for taking such measures. It is also possible to regard this postcard as a It is possible that both the problem statement typical white-male kind of humour that does not and its solutions are ignored, so careful treading is demonstrate inclusiveness as to women and/or other recommended. For example, Hein Schreuder points minorities. The man wears a tie, he works in an office – out that in more gender-equal societies fewer women perhaps at the RSM – the woman wears an apron, and choose to study science and technology, as women in is probably cooking his meal.

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