Women economists discuss scarcity

Women are "seriously under-represented" in economics, research by the Royal Economics Society has found. Women make up 30 per cent of students training for economics doctorates but only 15 per cent of academic economists and only 5 per cent of economics professors are female, the RES found. This week the society's women's committee met to discuss the barriers, which include a lack of role models, a "macho" culture and the high financial returns of business.