CSWEP: Survey & Annual Report

Annual Survey     Annual Report     Panel Data Project     Related Literature

Women’s representation in economics has increased since CSWEP first surveyed economics departments regarding the gender composition of faculty in 1972. Since 1993, CSWEP has surveyed some 250 departments annually with findings reported in the AER: May Papers & Proceedings and reprinted in the CSWEP Annual Report.

Figure 1. The Pipeline for Departments with Doctoral Programs: Percent of Doctoral Students and Faculty who are Women

Annual report data indicate that three truths continue to hold for women in the academy:

• From entering PhD student to full professor, women have been and remain a minority;
• Within the tenure track, from new PhD ­to full professor, the higher the rank, the lower the representation of women; and
• Compared with men, women disproportionately fall off the academic ladder at the time of promotion to tenured associate – a phenomenon that appears to be unique in the economics profession. 

Two recent trends also strike a disturbing chord and taken together demand deeper inquiry:

• The share of women entering PhD programs has not increased in the past 20 years; and
• The fraction of baccalaureate women who majored in economics is decreasing.

In January 2013, Margaret Levenstein (University of Michigan) became CSWEP’s inaugural Associate Chair and Director of the Survey, charged with improving content, utility and administration.  Preservation of the department-level survey data has begun with the ultimate goal of providing researchers with an ongoing CSWEP Panel on the Gender Composition of Students and Faculty stretching back to 1972.

Page last revised 3/21/17