Thread by @abicadams

I was asked to talk on "Working in a Male Dominated Profession" at the #EEAESEM22 women in economics retreat yesterday

In case they are useful for others, a thread on my advice 🧵👇

https://twitter.com/EEANews/status/1561464254615674883

1/ First a disclaimer: I have a fundamental identification problem - I've not known anything different!!

So I'll likely be mixing up some general career advice & my own prefs - make sure you reflect on your own objective function

2/ There's work on average gender gaps in many dimensions: constraints, beliefs, negotiation styles = higher change women in the profession have diff views & needs from their male peers & seniors

Remember though that there's lots of overlap in distributions & many male allies

3/ Starting out: do your homework to get your ask right when negotiating & understand bounds on whats possible. There can be a lot of variation even within a dept.

There're demands to be the woman on a committee. Be especially careful with roles that are reactive & invisible

3b/ I've been lucky to have great senior (male) allies. Again do your homework to know who they are and ask them for advice on bargaining & what tasks to say yes to

4a/ Many times I've felt a research interaction went wrong because I mixed up asking for early feeback on an idea with "selling" a result

It's hard to get decent feedback on very early ideas from everyone. Work out who you feel comfortable talking to & is willing to give you the

4n/ benefit of the doubt

You need to work out your way of being assertive. This is not being aggressive!

Tell others publicly when you think they've done a good job/asked a good question (especially juniors & students) --- we need to shift the equilibrium

5/ Teaching is where I've faced the most issues with a majority male group

Don't internalise this! I find visualising any sexist comment, squashing it into a ball & throwing it over my shoulder helpful ;)

Ask advice from other faculty if it keeps happening & get students

5b/ involved in any inclusivity training

Recognise that you will never be able to do all tasks perfectly & it's not your job to "solve" every problem --- signposting is often fine

6/ We all have diff objectives in life & diff production functions. Do things on purpose & don't consistently downgrade your wellbeing

If close female friends important to you, you might need to invest in activities outside of work. This is okay!!

6b/ But importantly, I LOVE my job

I've been incredibly lucky to have supportive colleagues & would definitely choose to be an academic economist again if I was starting out again knowning what I know now

7/ Huge thanks to #EEAESEM22 #Wine for hosting, Ghazala Azmat & Caterina Calsamiglia for organising, the amazing junior women & inspiring other mentors
@LibertadGonLu @CornoLucia @IsabelleMejean @laura_hospido Margarita Fort Paola Bustos that I learnt a lot from yesterday!