Celebrating Women in Economics and Business

Written by Anjeli de Blank (W’26); Edited by Ria Saraswat (W’25)

The field of economics has long been infamous for being a predominantly male discipline. In a time where gradual population aging and weak productivity growth are already curtailing economic development, the scarcity of women in business only enhances this decline. But times are changing. We see more and more amazing women taking large steps in the journey towards reaching gender parity. In 2019, prior to the Covid-19 impact, companies in the top quartile of gender diversity on executive teams were 25% more likely to experience above-average profitability than companies in the fourth quartile. Concurrently, there was a 48% performance differential between the most and least gender-diverse companies when it comes to executive teams. In this article, I would like to take the opportunity to celebrate influential women in economics working to improve diversity and highlight their astounding accomplishments. 

Elinor Ostrom

In 2009, Ostrom became the first female to receive the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences for her analysis of economic governance. She disproved a long unanimously held belief, the Tragedy of the Commons, surrounding collective use of natural resources and instead showed how common goods can be managed locally without government intervention. Her significant contributions to the field of economics led to her being named as one of Time Magazine’s Top 100 Most Influential People in 2012. 

Esther Duflo

Born in Paris in 1972, Duflo studied history and economics and soon after completed her PhD in economics at MIT. Her work, alongside Abhijit Banerjee and Michael Kremer, was widely recognized for its experimental approach to alleviating global poverty. It transformed the field of development economics and led to successful public policy reformations, awarding them with the Nobel Prize for Economics in 2019. She is the youngest person and only the second woman to receive the prize in the field. At the Poverty Action Lab at MIT—which she co-founded—she aims to empower young girls around the world to bring economic change in developing countries. 

Janet Yellen

Chair of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, Economic Advisor to Bill Clinton and the current Secretary of the U.S. Department of the Treasury. These are just a few of Yellen’s accolades and accomplishments. She was the first woman to hold each of those roles and in them, aimed to reverse the damage done in the 2008 Financial Crisis and advocated for stronger financial regulation. Her formidable career landed her in sixth on the Forbes’ Most Powerful People list in 2016.

Christine Lagarde

Lagarde’s journey is a fascinating one; after leaving school in France, she went on to intern at the US Capitol and later held a chair position at a top law firm in Chicago. She soon became Trade Minister in France from 2005-07 and was then designated Finance Minister, the first woman in the Group of Eight countries to hold the position. In 2011, she became the head of the International Monetary Fund, reviving its focus on combating corruption and advocated for tackling climate change and income inequality. 8 years later and to this day, she serves as the first female President of the European Central Bank. Aside from all this, she also had an outstanding career in synchronized swimming, winning the French national championship in 1973. 

Hopefully, this article has given you some insight into some of the pioneering female role models in economics. They are without a doubt paving the way for young women striving to break the glass ceiling. Through introducing creativity and innovation, diversity can unleash the true value of a company, provide long-term sustainable growth and value for stakeholders, and overall offer intangible benefits to all. By reaching gender parity, companies are obtaining a dynamic skill set, building corporate resilience and enhancing financial performance. With countless women leaders championing diversity and leveraging their skills, it's obvious that we can pioneer our own paths. 

Bibliography:

https://www.mckinsey.com/featured-insights/diversity-and-inclusion/diversity-wins-how-inclusion-matters 

https://economics.blogs.bristol.ac.uk/2020/03/06/international-womens-day-celebrating-women-in-economics/ 

https://www.britannica.com/biography/Esther-Duflo 

https://www.britannica.com/biography/Christine-Lagarde 

https://www.britannica.com/biography/Janet-Yellen 

https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/economic-sciences/2009/ostrom/facts/ 

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