Study Finds That Women Presenters at Economic Conferences Are Treated Differently Than Men

A new study led by Pascaline Dupas a professor of economics at Stanford University and published as a working paper of the National Bureau of Economic Research, finds that women presenters at conferences are treated differently than men.

Researchers, a group of 97 members of the economics community called the Seminar Dymanics Collective, collected data on every interaction between presenters and their audience in hundreds of research seminars and job market talks across most leading economics departments, as well as during summer conferences.

They found that women are asked more questions during a seminar and the questions asked of women presenters are more likely to be patronizing or hostile. The authors point to their results as yet another potential explanation for their under-representation at senior levels within the economics profession.

Professor Dupas joined the faculty at Stanford University in 2011 after teaching at the Univerity of California, Los Angeles and Dartmouth College in New Hampshire. She was promoted to full professor in 2019. Dr. Dupas holds a master’s degree in economic policy and analysis from Ecole Normale Supérieure – Ulm in Paris and a Ph.D. in economics from École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales in Paris.