Aims and Objectives

The objective of the Committee is to increase the number of women economists at all levels in UK academia and business by promoting equal opportunity and supporting entry into the profession and career advancement.

The Committee has the following aims:

1) To identify the current position of women economists in academic departments and in business, to monitor changes in the position of women and to make this data widely available.

The Committee will do this by:

• Establishing a biennial survey of academic departments to establish time trends in the stocks and flows of female compared to male economists.
• Examining the gender balance in business economics.
• Analysing this data.
• Publicising these, and other data, widely within the profession.

2) To support women throughout the economics profession through the establishment of networks and to increase contacts of women in similar situations, circulate information and publicise appointments widely.

The Committee will achieve this by:

• A regular event at the RES conference and a regular publication in the RES newsletter.
• Supporting women at the beginning of their careers.
• Increasing links with similar groups in other academic disciplines.
• Creating a bulletin style e-mail network.
• Being responsive to approaches from economists concerned about gender imbalance.

3) To identify the underlying causes of the under-representation of women in economics, and to seek to change or affect them.

The Committee will stimulate research in this area through:

• Focus group meetings to develop researchable hypotheses.
• Disseminating the results of research on women in the profession.