By Caitlyn Woodger (BSc Economics And Finance With A Placement Year)
When I first made my decision to study economics, I was following a curiosity about how societies work. After studying sociology, I became interested in how economic forces shape everyday life – why prices rise, why governments intervene and how policies influence people’s opportunities. Economics appealed to me because it offered a logical way of explaining complex social realities using structured models.
When I attended my first lecture, I began to notice something. While economics presents itself as objective and neutral, the spaces in which it is taught do not always reflect that neutrality. When I look around my lecture theatres, it’s striking how male-dominated they are. There’s no obvious reason for this imbalance. There’s no barrier in ability, ambition or intelligence – yet the disparity is very visible.
This realisation made me look more critically at the discipline itself. Economics aims to explain the functioning of society, so why does the community studying and shaping the discipline often fail to reflect the diversity of that society? This is why I strongly believe more women should study economics.
Women are just as capable of the analytical thinking, quantitative reasoning and critical debate required for the subject. Economics is often perceived as technical and competitive. These are characteristics that society labels as being ‘masculine’ – whether intentional or not. Over time, these perceptions can influence who feels they belong in the discipline long before they have even stepped into a lecture theatre.
But belonging should not be dictated by what is deemed ‘socially correct’. Economics is more than just equations and graphs; it’s about people. It’s about understanding why inequality continues to exist, how labour markets function, how policy decisions can affect households and how resources are distributed. Issues like these are not gender-neutral in how they impact people. Policies on welfare, childcare and employment often affect men and women differently. This is because they experience economic institutions and social expectations in different ways.
If more women were to study economics, the discipline could become richer and more insightful. Introducing more diverse perspectives helps challenge assumptions that may otherwise go unquestioned. For example, unpaid work – disproportionately carried out by women – has historically been overlooked in traditional economic measurement such as GDP. Yet without this unpaid work, there would be no functioning labour force. Without recognising this labour, economic analysis remains incomplete. Through diversity in the field, we can close these blind spots.
Studying economics can feel empowering. As you begin to understand economic systems, it changes the way you engage with the world around you. News headlines about inflation and public spending become more than just statements – they become processes you can interpret and question. Instead of feeling distant from policy decisions, you start to understand their foundations, which builds confidence in analysing them critically.
Though admittedly, it can sometimes feel daunting. For example, seminars can feel nerve-wracking. But over time I have learnt that confidence in economics does not come from dominating discussions, but from trusting your perspective while remaining open to others. When more women contribute, the classroom dynamic begins to shift. This makes the space more balanced and more collaborative – which is what economics, as a discipline of debate and ideas, should encourage.
Encouraging more women to study economics is not about creating division. Instead, it is about ensuring that the discipline includes the perspectives of those who experience the effects of policies relating to education, healthcare, employment and social mobility. There is no real reason for economics to remain male-dominated. The main barrier is perception – and perceptions can change. Each woman who chooses to study economics helps reshape what an economist looks like. Choosing economics shouldn’t feel unusual for women; it should feel natural. For each woman who chooses to step into the lecture theatre, the imbalance becomes slightly less visible – until eventually, it disappears altogether.
Ultimately, addressing gender imbalances is about strengthening economics as a discipline. Economics often talks about the importance of pluralism – the idea that understanding the economy requires a range of perspectives, experiences and approaches. If the people studying and shaping economics are not representative of society, important viewpoints can be missing. Bringing more women into economics doesn’t just change who studies the subject – it changes how we understand the economy itself.
Banner Image by Henry Storck on Unsplash