Women in economics get asked significantly more questions than men when presenting — mostly by men. Researchers say this is part of deeper gender issues within the field.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
By\u00a0Colleen Flaherty<\/a>\u00a0February 9, 2021<\/p>\n\n\n\n Female economists probably didn\u2019t need a quantitative study to know that they get asked more questions when presenting than their male counterparts. Indeed, many female academics are familiar with manterruptions<\/a>, an offshoot of the mansplaining phenomenon. Female economists probably didn\u2019t need a formal analysis of the kinds of questions they get asked to know that they face more patronizing or hostile queries than their male peers, either.<\/p>\n\n\n\n But numbers are a good thing — especially to economists — and now there exists such a study, courtesy of a group of prominent economists. These researchers plan to publish\u00a0the new working paper<\/a>\u00a0with the National Bureau of Economic Research and otherwise use it to promote change in a field that has historically been unwelcoming to women.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThis paper represents the first systematic analysis of the culture of economics seminars,\u201d wrote co-authors Pascaline DuPas, Alicia Sasser Modestino, Muriel Neiderle and Justin Wolfers, in collaboration with a group of 97 other economists who call themselves the Seminar Dynamics Collective. \u201cOur findings add to an emerging literature documenting ways in which women economists are treated differently than men, and suggest yet another potential explanation for their underrepresentation at senior levels within the economics profession.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n