Representations of Men and Women in Introductory Economics Textbooks

摘要

In this paper we ask: how are women represented in introductory economics textbooks? Do students learning from these texts see gender diversity in economic actors and their actions? Do economic textbooks describe a world that feels familiar to both male and female students?Economics is a male-dominated discipline. Men outnumber women at every level of study from high school economics through to full professor. While many other fields-including STEM-related fields-have seen women grow as a share of students and faculty, economics has stagnated, with little improvement at any level over the past 15 years.1 This fact both makes it likely that economics textbooks are male-dominated and suggests that concrete steps need to be taken to understand why economics is not attracting female students. One part of the answer may be that women do not see themselves, their interests, and their lives described in economics textbooks.The lack of women in economics textbooks is in conflict with a goal of many in the profession: to demonstrate that economics is helpful for understanding the world around us. Textbooks promise to do this, arguing that they will explain the behavior of "individuals who make up the economy," the "choices people make to attaintheir goals," and "the ordinary business of life."