Anusha Chari is a professor of economics and finance at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. She became the chair of the Committee on the Status of Women in the Economics Profession in 2022. She answers some questions about the committee's mission and activities.

The mission of CSWEP is "to eliminate discrimination against women, and to redress the low representation of women in the economics profession." Can you tell us more about the mission in your own words: who are you serving, and how?

 CSWEP’s core mission is purposeful mentorship and targeted interventions to promote the advancement of women in economics and address issues of climate or other barriers that may impede women’s progress in the profession. A primary goal is to fix the leaky pipeline in economics to foster an environment that allows women economists to climb the ranks in the profession equitably. At CSWEP, we believe in intelligent experimentation to achieve broader cultural shifts to advance women’s careers in economics.

 CSWEP serves women economists in multiple arenas ranging from academia to government, the policy world, and industry. Our core constituency is women economists across ranks, including graduate students, junior, mid-career, and senior women. It is also essential for our outreach efforts to encourage young women at the undergraduate and high school levels to pursue careers in economics.

CSWEP conducts an annual survey to track women’s representation in the economics profession. What does the latest survey indicate about the progress made toward CSWEP’s mission?  

 Our 2021 Annual Survey of 237 doctoral and non-doctoral departments brings cause for optimism. While the representation of women stagnated for a long time, recent years show a promising increase in the entry of women into the economics profession. At all professorial ranks, the share of women economists is higher in 2021 than ever before. The percentage of women at the undergraduate level does not approach parity and women continue to be over-represented in non-tenure-track jobs, but the increases in female shares of incoming PhD classes and assistant professors are welcome developments. 

What resources or mentoring programs would you want to highlight for women thinking about becoming economists or considering graduate school?

Our website provides resources for undergraduates to learn about careers in economics. We also host an annual webinar to help faculty place their students in economics graduate programs, and our professional development page has many resources for graduate students on the job market and resources about careers for economists in academia, government, policy institutions, and industry.

What resources or regional activities would you want to highlight for the career development of women already in the field, whether in academia, government, or the private sector?

CSWEP actively promotes increased awareness of the challenges unique to women’s careers. We distribute information on professional opportunities, career development, and how the profession works via free digital subscriptions to the CSWEP News, published four times a year. The Annual CSWEP Report comes out in the first issue of the year and contains statistical information valuable for monitoring the status of women in the profession. In addition to information about opportunities and events hosted by CSWEP, the News carries a Focus section on career development. The themes covered are tremendously crucial for young economists irrespective of gender.

There is also a career development webinar series, the Summer Economics Fellows Program, CeMENT workshops, and mentoring breakfasts for Junior and Mid-Career economists at the ASSA annual meeting. Our committee hosts networking events, panel sessions, and paper sessions at the annual ASSA meeting and four regional association meetings. Calls for papers for CSWEP-sponsored sessions and other activities for the regional meetings are on our website. In 2021, CSWEP established a DC Regional Representative for the board. DCSWEP has hosted several virtual and in-person social hours in the Washington, D.C. area and will host paper sessions at the APPAM meetings.

 Finally, we host webinars for those interested in jobs outside of academia. Recordings from past webinars are available on our website.

Do you have any new initiatives or upcoming events that you wish people were more aware of?

We plan to host our 2nd annual Econopalooza mentoring event this summer. This is a research-oriented virtual event for junior scholars to network with senior mentors in their respective sub-fields.

We host our flagship CeMENT workshops every January for faculty from Ph.D. and non-Ph.D. granting institutions. In September, we host workshops for 3rd and 4th-year women and non-binary economic Ph.D. students.

We will also continue our virtual fireside chats with journal editors to demystify the publications process. Recordings from past conversations are available on our website. Follow us on Twitter to get timely updates about new initiatives and upcoming events.

How can people get involved?  Would you tell us about the liaison network and how it works?

The first step is to subscribe and receive our CSWEP Newsletter. There are many opportunities to participate in our events and workshops. Please reach out to any of our board members if you have ideas for new initiatives CSWEP could pursue or if you would like to volunteer for existing initiatives. The success of our paper sessions, webinars, breakfasts, and other events depends on a diversity of ideas and broad participation.

 CSWEP also seeks liaisons from economics departments and outside academia to help increase awareness about the work of CSWEP, expand the distribution of CSWEP opportunities, and streamline the collection of gender data for CSWEP’s Annual Survey of departments. A liaison ensures that their department responds to the survey (for the 250 economics departments in the survey pool), forwards occasional emails about opportunities from CSWEP to their students and colleagues, and distributes issues of CSWEP News to their networks. The liaison determines the appropriate target audience. 

What kinds of challenges does the committee face in its current work?

 CSWEP has an active board committed and eager to serve the profession in furthering the status of women economists. The committee welcomes the involvement of the larger economics profession to support its mission and activities. A cornerstone of CSWEP’s agenda is its wide-ranging slate of mentorship activities that draw upon an extensive network of senior mentors. We are always searching for mentors across all genders to support junior economists as they forge their careers in the profession. We are tremendously grateful to the mentors who share their valuable time and experience to make CSWEP’s mentorship activities a resounding success. Please volunteer!!

The committee is on Twitter at @AEACSWEP.  Is that the best way to stay up-to-date on CSWEP activities?  Who should subscribe to the CSWEP Newsletter and CSWEP mailing list?  

Twitter is the best way to stay updated about CSWEP activities and deadlines. We encourage anyone interested in promoting the status of women in economics to subscribe to our mailing list to receive announcements about opportunities and events and our quarterly CSWEP Newsletter.

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