Women's Committee
Our Women’s Committee promotes the status of women in economics by identifying and removing barriers to progress. The committee monitors and reports on the status of women in economics and seeks to identify and to tackle the causes of their under-representation in the subject. It provides support for women in their careers as economists and ensures that the interests of women are represented in all of the Society’s activities.
Status of women in economics
Supporting women in their careers
Tackling the causes of under-representation
Promote the interests of women
Current Committee Chair
Prof Almudena Sevilla
University College London
Almudena Sevilla is a Professor of Economics and Public Policy at UCL. She holds a £2M ERC Consolidator grant to study the effect of parental time investments and children's human capital accumulation. Almudena obtained a PhD in Economics from Brown University (USA), and previously worked at QMUL, University of Oxford, Essex University, and the US Congressional Budget Office.
Committee members until 2020
Prof Marina Della Giusta
University of Reading
Marina is an Associate Professor in Economics at the University of Reading. Her publications are in the area of behavioural and labour economics, with particular focus on gender, stigma and social norms. Marina is actively promoting initiatives surrounding both the communication and teaching of economics and the advancement of women in the profession.
Prof Amelia Fletcher
University of East Anglia
Amelia is professor of Competition Policy at the Centre of Competition Policy, University of East Anglia. She is Non-Executive Director at the CMA, FCA and Payment Systems Regulator and a member of the Ofgem Enforcement Decision Panel. She has a DPhil and MPhil in economics from Nuffield College, Oxford and was awarded an OBE in 2014.
Prof Sarah Smith
University of Bristol
Sarah Smith is Professor of Economics at the University of Bristol and the current Head of Department. She is an elected member of the EEA council/ former elected member of the RES Council. She has previously worked at the Institute for Fiscal Studies, HM Treasury, Financial Services Authority and the London School of Economics.
Committee members until 2021
Dr Victoria Bateman
University of Cambridge
Dr Victoria Bateman is Lecturer in Economics and Fellow of Gonville & Caius College at the University of Cambridge. She is an economic historian, the author of two books, and regularly commentates on present day economic issues for the press and for radio. Victoria organises an annual Women In Economics Day for 16-18 year olds, taking place at the University of Cambridge every September.
Rain Newton Smith
Confederation of British Industry
Rain Newton-Smith is the Chief Economist at the Confederation of British Industry and previously the head of Emerging Markets at Oxford Economics. Prior to that, Rain worked on the international forecast for the Monetary Policy Committee at the Bank of England. She was honoured by the World Economic Forum in 2012 as a Young Global Leader.
Committee members until 2022
Prof Jo Swaffield
Chair of CHUDE (Co-opted)
Jo is Professor of Economics and Head of the Department of Economics & Related Studies, University of York. Jo is a labour economist interested in low wages, working hours and in-work poverty. Her research has been funded by the ESRC, the Joseph Rowntree Foundation and the Low Pay Commission. Jo is a member of the Home Office’s Migration Advisory Committee.
Misa Tanaka
Bank of England
Misa Tanaka is the Head of Research at the Bank of England. She has joined the Bank in 2002 after completing a D.Phil in Economics at Nuffield College, University of Oxford. She has held a number of positions across Monetary Analysis, Financial Stability, and Prudential Policy Areas of the Bank.