Therefore, women’s lower average article output appears to be due to two factors:

• the more junior status of women, on average
• the fact that more-senior female academics produce fewer articles than their male counterparts

Women and men entering the profession of economics today perform much more similarly to each other than previous cohorts did. And looking at research output data by university department may give us a clue about why this change has occurred.

The larger the ratio of women to men in a department, the smaller the output and citation gaps

Analyzing department-level data yields particularly revealing results. In departments approaching gender parity, women and men perform similarly in terms of the number of articles produced and citations received. This pattern suggests a critical-mass effect, where gaps in individual output and citations appear to close faster once women make up a significant share of faculty members. Reaching a critical mass can shift norms, strengthen collaboration networks and influence how research is evaluated and recognized.

The results at the department level stand in stark contrast to patterns observed across the subfields in economics. Gaps in individual output and citations are remarkably similar across numerous areas, even though women are more represented in subfields such as microeconomics, labour economics and family economics and less so in areas like macroeconomics and finance.

These findings suggest that what matters most is women’s representation in a given economics department rather than in the profession at large or even within subfields. This interpretation is in line with a large body of research emphasizing the role of professional networks and mentoring in career advancement. The careers of women in economics tend to gain momentum when women obtain more agency through collaboration.

What this all means

The silver lining in all of this is that professional women economists today are working on a more level playing field than those who entered economics in the past. If these trends are sustained, the discipline could see meaningful convergence over time.

But increasing the number of women in economics is not enough on its own to expand women’s contributions to and impacts on economic research. Maintaining progress depends on creating opportunities for collaboration for women in the field. Building such a culture can help broaden the range of perspectives that inform economic analysis and policy advice, which are both central to the Bank of Canada’s mandate.