Gender segregation and the development of economics

Abstract

"The paper starts with the observation that the development of economic theories, economic knowledge and economic research is a highly segregated male domain: economics as a profession is one of the most male-dominated academic fields we can recently observe. The male dominance in economics, based on occupational segregation processes which should be studied in detail, maintains the neglect or trivialisation of gender aspects in economics as women are marginalised both as economists and as subjects of research. The assumption of the paper is that the gender-biased approach of economics is deeply embedded in the dominant economic models and influences conceptional and methodological developments. The neglect of gender-specific analysis leads to misleading analysis and policy recommendations. The argument is therefore to develop a 'richer' economic approach to analyse the interrelations between supply side and demand side developments in a conceptual framework that is not confined to a defined list of variables which are not adequate to describe the reality and which construct determined causal relations." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku) ((en))

Cite article

Maier, F. (1996): Gender segregation and the development of economics. In: P. Beckmann (Hrsg.) (1996): Gender specific occupational segregation (Beiträge zur Arbeitsmarkt- und Berufsforschung, 188), p. 55-66.