Unequal Equilibrium: Gender Inequality in Economics
Keywords:
Gender Inequality, Academia, Feminism, Alfred Marshall, Neoclassical Economics, Critique of a Discipline, Political Economy, Economic Empiricism, Gender Essentialism, RepresentationAbstract
Gender inequality in the economics profession is frequently debated in the media and the academy of late, but this inequality is far from new. This paper will trace the entrenched underrepresentation of women in the discipline back to the turn of the 20th Century and the emergence of neoclassical economics, in particular the writings and actions of Alfred Marshall, to demonstrate that today’s gender differentials are rooted in three discriminations: in theory, method and access. It will also consider women’s responses to this discrimination, both historically and in the present day, calling into question how much further they would have progressed in more equal circumstances.
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