Exploring the Role of External Characteristics on Gender Equity: A Study of Economics Departments in the United States

Laura Beltran Figueroa ()
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Laura Beltran Figueroa: Rutgers University, Center for Women and Work

A chapter in Missing Voices in Economics, 2026, pp 37-56 from Springer

Abstract: Abstract This paper investigates the factors influencing faculty gender distribution in economics departments in the United States, focusing on external variables such as state political affiliation, school type, and the gender of the current department chair, as well as the gender distribution across faculty fields of specialization. By utilizing web-scraping techniques, a comprehensive dataset of 240 leading economics departments was compiled, including details on each department's ranking, location, institutional characteristics, and the percentage of women faculty members. Data was collected for 5,388 professors and their research interests, with a focus on 1,333 women professors. The study argues that economics departments located in public institutions in Democratic-leaning states are more likely to have a more balanced gender distribution among their faculty members. Through statistical analyses, the paper demonstrates that university locationuniversity location, school typeschool type, and rankingranking are significant predictors of gender distribution in economics faculty. More so, women faculty in these department tend to overspecialize in community-based researchcommunity-based research compared to their male counterparts. This study contributes to the literature by expanding the understanding of external factors influencing gender representation in economics departments, providing actionable insights for institutions seeking to promote greater gender equity, and offering a novel dataset for future research.

Keywords: Economics faculty; Gender representation; Research interests; Subfield specialization; Departmental leadership (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2026
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:spr:sprchp:978-3-031-97180-8_2

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DOI: 10.1007/978-3-031-97180-8_2

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