Gender and promotion in the economics profession

The authors use unique panel data on American Economic Association members to test for gender differences in promotion in a profession with a well-def ined promotion and job hierarchy and in which men and women exhibit similar labor-market attachment. The results suggest that over the period from the 1960s through the early 1980s, female economists had lower levels of profe ssional attainment and career advancement than did their male colleagues wi th similar attributes. These gender differences remain in evidence despite controls for unobserved heterogeneity and self-selection between academic a nd nonacademic jobs. There is evidence, however, that promotion prospects f or female economists significantly improved during the 1980s, not only at a ll ranks, but also within both Ph.D.-granting institutions and non-Ph.D.-gr anting institutions. In fact, the results reveal no unexplained gender-spec ific differences in promotion by the end of the 1980s.