Women in Politics

How women are changing the face of economics

“One of the key reasons I chose to do economics was because I was interested in how to ensure there are economic opportunities for everybody in society,” said Swati Dhingra, associate professor of economics at the LSE.

Dr Dhingra spoke about her research into the knock-on effects of Brexit in everyday life. “Whether we have things like Marmite on our shelves are determined by something as big as what the trading rules between the UK and the EU.” she explains. Dr Dhingra also has a high-profile role as a member of the Bank of England’s Monetary Policy Committee – which sets interest rates for the country. She is the first Asian woman to be appointed to the role.

As Dr Oparina puts it: “When you produce evidence that shapes policies you can change the lives of thousands of people for the better. This is very satisfying and it’s a lot of fun.”

Having more women, from different backgrounds, represented in economics is important. How can we hope to have a complete understanding of the economy, bring innovative perspectives to the discourse, or formulate more balanced policies when we have such a partial representation of the society we are trying to analyse?


This article accompanies the video “Why be an economist” released for international women’s day by the LSE Centre for Economic Performance.

All articles posted on this blog give the views of the author(s), and not the position of LSE British Politics and Policy, nor of the London School of Economics and Political Science.

Image credit: Photo by Anna Tarazevich via Pexels.


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