The University of Vigo, national leader in terms of female presence in the field of research in economics

The work “Women in European economics“, published by Emmanuelle Auriol, Guido Friebel and Cava Wilhelm, on the presence of women in the most prestigious research centers in economics in Europe, places the Faculty of Economics and Business Administration (FCCEE) of the University of Vigo at the head, both at national an European level.

The study is carried out in the framework of a project sponsored by the Women in Economics – WinE Committee – (WinE), of the European Economic Association (EEA), and takes as sample of the study the 300 best institutions of the ranking developed by RePEc. The purpose of this work is, on the one hand, to quantify the weight of women economists in the main European research centers in Economics, and on the other hand, to analyze if there are indications of the existence of a lower presence of women in the more prestigious centers, and in the highest positions. The work concludes that, indeed, this is happening: the presence of women in such centers is lower, existing marked differences by countries and centers, and a significant imbalance in the negative sense for the female group in the highest positions, such as the chair and equivalent.

However, in the case of the University of Vigo the situation is different. The FCCEE of UVigo has 48% of female researchers, which places it among the first two institutions at the national level, together with the Faculty of Economics and Business Sciences of the Basque Country, in terms of female presence in its academic team, and at the 20th possition in Europe. These data are certainly remarkable, and even more if compare them with those of the most prestigious organizations in the field, such as the London School of Economics, where the percentage does not reach 25%, or the European Central Bank, in which it barely exceeds 15%.