The Australian Research Council (ARC) is responsible for administering Excellence in Research for Australia (ERA), Australia’s national research evaluation framework. In the ERA 2015 evaluation round, gender data was collected for the first time. Gender data was used for aggregate reporting and analysis purposes only and to provide a baseline for analysis in future rounds: it was not made available to peer reviewers or Research Evaluation Committees (RECs) and did not form part of the evaluation process. The data on gender was published in visual format at the two-digit Field of Research (FoR) code level which included the FoR code 14 Economics. A subsequent ERA report in 2018 published all collected data. The figures show that women are underrepresented in the discipline of economics and hold only 13 per cent of professorial (Level E) positions.

Figure 1. Headcount by gender by employment level – 14 ​Economics, 2015-16

Source: Australian Research Council, State of Australian University Research 2015-16: Volume 2. Institutional Insights, Section 2 Gender and the Research Workforce.

Figure 2. Headcount by gender by employment level – 14 ​Economics, 2017

Source: Australian Research Council, Gender and the Research Workforce. Excellence in Research for Australia (ERA) 2018.

Figure 3: Distribution of academic appointments in economics in Australia by gender, 2017 (headcount)

Source: Australian Research Council, Gender and the Research Workforce. Excellence in Research for Australia (ERA) 2018.

In an article on 16 October 2016, the financial journalist Jessica Irvine asked ‘where are all the female economists in Australia?’ (Irvine, 2016). The pursuit of gender equality in economics, she argued, ‘remains a distinct masculine pursuit’ because of a ‘toxic combination’ of unconscious bias, old norms and networks, and women’s traditional care responsibilities (Irvine, 2016). This article was part of an upsurge of interest and debate on women’s low representation and visibility within the economics discipline, and a celebration of women organising around the Women in Economics Network (see Ellis, 2017; Wood, 2017).

While there is a dearth of information on the status of women in economics, the Women in Economics Network has presented stark evidence of the gender imbalance that exists in the discipline. In an article in The Conversation, Danielle Wood from the Women in Economics Network noted that women are disappearing throughout the academic pipeline. While women represented half of all research and teaching fellow positions in economics departments, they made up just over a quarter of senior lecturers, a mere 15 per cent of all associate professors and professors. The share of women in the top echelons of the discipline across the eight most prominent universities is as low as 10 per cent (Wood, 2017).

These patterns of gender imbalance are further illustrated by an assessment of full time staff at the ANU College of Business and Economics in 2014. The share of women in the economics faculty is higher in the lower echelons, with women over-represented in full time positions below lecturer, accounting for 58.8 per cent. However, over 39 per cent of all full-time lecturer positions at the ANU College of Business and Economics were women. Of some concern to closing the gender gap in the economics faculty in more senior roles, women accounted for just 21.9 per cent of all senior lecturers, and made up less than a third of all full time staff in positions above senior lecturer. This data, while not comprehensive of all academic staff engaged in economics at the Australian National University, suggests some leaks that need fixing in the academic pipeline for economics. 

The share of women students enrolled in economics at university level has been relatively static over the last decade. Administrative data from the Department of Education and Training, made available by the Grattan Institute, shows that in 2005 female students represented 38 per cent of all students enrolled in economics. Ten years later, in 2015, women represented 37.3 per cent of all students enrolled. Other relevant research on patterns of university enrolment in economics in Australia has shown that female enrolments tend to favour business studies rather than economics with the latter seen as male dominated and offering limited employment opportunities for women. This has led some to argue for the need to include gender in economic analysis, to offer courses on feminist economics, and bring to light the significant contribution women economists have made (see Marangos, Fournouzi & Koukouritakis, 2013; Millmow & Bookallil, 2006).

In little over two decades enrolment in high school economics has declined, with a disproportionately large decline in the participation of women. Around 25 years ago women represented half of all year 12 economics students. By 2016 women represented a little more than a third of students. Data from the New South Wales Education Standards Authority confirms these patterns, showing the number of HSC economic enrolments declining 16 per cent since the early 2010s. The decline among female students was sharper at 21 per cent (Wood, 2017).These patterns of gender imbalance in economics have been described as more pronounced than those found in STEM subjects (Dwyer, 2017).

The Women in Economics Network was launched in March 2017 with a mandate to support and promote the careers of women in economics .Recent data suggests that the organisation has had an immediate impact on mobilising women economists, with the share of female membership of the Economics Society of Australia rising from 25.1 per cent in 2016 to 36.5 per cent just a year later. Despite this, existing governance arrangements within the Economics Society of Australia continue to reflect the historical gender imbalance in the discipline, with no women engaged in voting positions in the Society’s governance structures. 

Another relevant platform for women economists in Australia has been the Australian chapter of the International Feminist Economics (IAFFE). Launched in 1992 IAFFE holds a mandate to advance feminist inquiry of economic issues and to educate others on feminist perspectives on economic issues. An important feature of IAFFE is Feminist Economics, a peer-reviewed journal dedicated to debate about feminist economic perspectives. 

Figure 4. Distribution of academic positions in ANU College of Business and Economics by level and gender, 2014

Source: GESS researchers’ calculations based on data from ANU Planning and Performance Measurement (2014) Full-time and fractional staff, up to 2014, DEEWR submission, 31 March.

Figure 5. Distribution of students in ANU College of Business and Economics, by course level and gender, 2014

Source: GESS researchers’ calculations based on data from Planning and Performance Measurement (2014) enrolments by program, program/plan code and name, year and gender 2010-2014, DIISRTE/DEEWR Submissions and weekly enrolment monitoring of 28 July 2014.

Research conducted for the Economic Society of Australia in 2016 found that only 33 per cent of lecturers and senior lecturers in economics were women, and only 13 per cent of Professors and Associate Professors, the same figure that the ARC’s ERA collection found in 2017.

Figure 6: Only 13% of economics professors are female

Source: Economic Society of Australia, 2016, graph published on The Power to Persuade blog, accessed 14 June 2019.

References

Luci Ellis, (2017, 20 March). Women in the Economy and in Economics. Speech at the ACT Launch of the Women in Economics Network, Canberra. Accessed 1 September 2017.

Jacqui Dwyer, (2017, 29 July). Studying economics: The decline in enrolments and why it matters. Address to the Business Educators Australasia Annual Council Meeting, Sydney. Accessed 27 September 2017.

Jessica Irvine, (2016, 16 October). Where are all the female economists in Australia. The Sydney Morning Herald.

John Marangos, Vasiliki Fournouzi, and Minoas Koukouritakis (2013). Factors that determine the decline in university student enrolments in economics in Australia: An empirical investigation. Economic Record, 89 (285), 255–270.

Alex Millmow and Cheryl Bookallil (2006). Girls and Economics: An unlikely coupling? Economics Papers, 25, 221–34.

Danielle Wood (2017, 20 March). Women are dropping out of economics, which means that men are running our economy. The Conversation. Accessed 27 September 2017.

Acknowledgements

We would like to thank Danielle Wood from the Women in Economics Network and the Grattan Institute for her assistance in providing access to data on the numbers of female and male members of the Economics Society, and data on student enrolment made available from the Grattan Institute.

Notes

1. A student is considered to be enrolled in economics if engaged in units of study with a field of education code of Economics or Econometrics. Please note that only students with a valid CHESSN are counted (i.e. Commonwealth-supported students or those accessing HECS/HELP).