“An Undergraduate Major’s Perspective” by M. Zhu

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Topic

The topic of the article is about the way of how undergraduate students can understand and choose their major’s perspectives.

Author

Maria Boya Zhu, a student of Pomona College and the winner of a National Science Fellowship for graduate students, is the author of the work under analysis.

Date of the publication

The article is published in the CSWEP, the Committee on the Status of Women in the Economics Profession (it is the American Association) in summer 2013.

Relation of the topic to life

The topic relates to my life as I, as well as the author, have to know how to make decisions and understand the importance of all decisions made. It should help me realize how to use the knowledge gained and choose the Major.

Type of writing

The article is a kind of personal reflection on everything that can be done by students when they have to make choices. The correctness of choice defines the perspectives of the student’s future.

Reading strategy

I will read the paper and underline the most interesting ideas as soon as I see them. Then, I will re-read the article when I start answering the questions to find the most appropriate answers.

Challenges

In the topic, there are no too complicated words. Still, I want to know more about the definition of the world “perspective” to learn the options possible. Perspective is defined as a particular attitude to something or a prospect.

Reading outline

The reading is not too long, just two pages. There are 12 small paragraphs. It means that the author focuses on different aspects of the chosen topic. There are no subheadings. There is only the main though identified in the middle of the article that “the core of the matter is not so much that economics is good for women, but that women are good for economics” (Zhu 8).

Intended Audience

The article can be interesting to any student who is going to decide on his/her majors and teachers, who want to understand the aspects that are more important for students while making choices.

Notes about the Reading

“Throughout most of the high school, I thought I would pursue a major in the humanities when I came to college. I loved reading and writing, and I thought I was too much of a creative type of person to major in math or science. I took my first economics class during my senior year of high school, and it didn’t fit either humanities or science. I enjoyed the class, partly because it presented a novel way of looking at the world, but mostly because I picked up the concepts more quickly than many of my classmates.

While I wouldn’t say my experience with economics in high school instilled a life-changing passion, having exposure to the subject definitely made me more open to it as a field of study in college. What turns off many women from economics (and some men, for that matter) is a misconception of what economics is actually about. Some of this misunderstanding is due to lack of exposure, but often it is because introductory economics is taught in a way that does not reflect the full breadth of the field.

As a student at a liberal arts college with no business major, I encountered many economics majors who saw economics as a proxy for business. The major was a way for them to have the benefits of a liberal arts education and a route to a future on Wall Street. Under these circumstances, it is not surprising that all too often, economics is seen as the business of making money rather than the science of human behavior.

Based on my observations, this misconception of the field seems to disproportionately drive women out of taking economics classes. Many of my female peers never even considered economics as a possible major, even those who were leaning heavily towards other social sciences, such as politics, psychology, or sociology. Economics was often stigmatized as a pre-professional degree that focused less on critical thinking and engagement with significant ideas. The availability of interdisciplinary fields that offered concentrations in economics (e.g., Public Policy Analysis, Environmental Analysis, International Relations) provided an attractive alternative to those who were interested in making a difference in society.

Additionally, the low numbers of female faculty and female majors poses a self-perpetuating problem. The absence of women in the year above me made pursuing an economics major less appealing. When I came to college, I didn’t have a clear idea of what I was interested in studying, and I took classes in many different areas during my first two years to try and figure out what to do. It was difficult to imagine myself thriving in departments such as economics with a clear gender imbalance.

For many people I have spoken to, both women and men, the presence of inspiring faculty that they could relate to was instrumental in influencing their eventual field of study. Put simply, people are likely to feel more of a sense of belonging in places where there are people they can relate to. This level of relatedness comes in many forms, and gender is one key factor.

For me, it has been important to find a strong female support network. I have actively sought out female professors as advisors and made sure to establish relationships with female peers. I have received a lot of encouragement and advice from professors, older students, and people in my cohort during college, and that has been invaluable in motivating me when I had doubts about my own capabilities or goals. In turn, I have tried to engage others on this issue as well. I took over organizing the semi-annual Women in Economics luncheon during my sophomore year. I organized a discussion panel that addressed the gender dynamics in economics and other disciplines with large gender imbalances and invited all students and professors to express their experiences and concerns.

Many people ask me why I decided to major in economics, and that’s a good question given that much of this essay has been devoted to describing the challenges women in economics face. I am interested in economics as a way of understanding the choices individuals make and how these decisions operate in a greater social context. Economics conceptualizes relationships in the world in a way that makes sense to me, and I see a lot of potentials to do research with meaningful policy implications in this area. I like the combination of analytical and creative aspects in looking at real-world problems, and I find it to be challenging in a way that I enjoy.

I did not always feel this certain about my passion for economics. During my sophomore year, I seriously considered dropping the major. I was having a hard time in one of my core theory classes, and I did not really understand why what I was learning was relevant to anything I cared about. Two key points made me decide to stick with economics. The first was that I had gotten the opportunity to do economics research with a professor the summer after freshman year, so I had been exposed to some of what real economics research looked like. The project I was working on looked at demographic data to analyze the impacts of immigration policy changes in Arizona and the impact this had on immigration patterns. I thought this research was fascinating, and I didn’t even realize something like that would fall under the umbrella of research in economics. I saw a side of economics that was very much tied to real issues that affected many people’s lives, which is something I didn’t see from the graphs and equations in my textbooks.

The second key reason I decided to stick with economics was that I had taken a class called Economics of Gender and Family during the second semester of my freshman year. This class presented economics to me in a completely different framework, and I loved that it challenged traditional neoclassical ideas. We looked at topics such as household bargaining, women’s rights, development, health, and labor, and we addressed facets of these issues that actually seemed relevant and personal. I believe if more women were exposed to the wide scope of economics research at an earlier stage, it would give more purpose to many of the core theory courses and spark more interest in learning the tools to analyze some of these interesting questions. For me, gaining research experience and taking interesting elective courses early exposed me to a much more nuanced and interesting side of economics than I would have been otherwise, and I think it made a big difference in my eventual decision to pursue economics as a major.

Finally, a valuable question to address in this discourse is why we should care about the representation of women in economics. I think the underrepresentation signals greater issues in terms of equity and access. It also signals problematic aspects of the current structure of economics in both research and pedagogy. Women bring a different perspective to the field, one that I think is very much missing right now. In particular, women often have different views on the valuation of time, attention to social constructs, focus on the informal economy, bargaining, welfare, and more.

Many of these perspectives run counter to the established “rigorous” neoclassical models of economics, but that is an argument for diversity, not against it. Ultimately, we need to be careful about how we frame this issue. The goal is not simply to convince more women to be major in economics at the undergraduate level—that implies that we should be fixing women instead of fixing greater structural issues. Trying to get women to conform to a male-dominated norm only serves to perpetuate the discipline as it is currently being practiced. Instead, we need to adopt a more nuanced approach that places value on the perspectives that women bring to the field and that works to encourage more people to embrace the full potential of economics as a discipline and tool. In the end, I believe that the core of the matter is not so much that economics is good for women, but that women are good for economics.”

New words for Discussion

To stigmatize “rigorous” neoclassical models of economics, to perpetuate the discipline.

Summary

In the article, the author discusses the reasons why women have to pay more attention to such majors as Economics and not be afraid to “conform to a male-dominated norm” (Zhu 8). Zhu says that there is a certain misconception about economics itself and about the opportunities this major can open to men and women. The way of how people understand economics and the way of how economics does look are different indeed. Some people cannot even guess that economics can touch upon human behavior, relations, and even emotions. Economics is not only about numbers, theories, and calculations. It is a properly covert opportunity for women to understand this world better and get equal to men’s rights. These are the main ideas offered by Zhu in the article. In the end, the author underlines one truth about the connection between economics and women that it “is not so much that economics is good for women, but that women are good for economics” (Zhu 8).

Evaluation and Reflection

The chosen article may cause different attitudes to the issue discussed by the author. The author does not provide clear evidence to support her position and does not refer to some well-known authors and researchers. However, Zhu describes her own attitude to the relation that exists between women and economics. In my opinion, this article is a captivating source of information on how people should make their choices. It is not enough to rely on the statistics or some public opinion. The choice of education should be personal and independent. People, especially women, should be free from prejudices and the symbolic relics of the past to be confident in their decisions and not to regret anything. Zhu helps to understand that Economics, as the major, does not make people work with numbers and theories all the time. It varies considerably, and people are able to learn better “household bargaining, women’s rights, development, health and labor” (Zhu 8). Even the way of how the article is written impresses a lot. The structure and context are logically developed in the article. She follows a good order of thoughts to explain her beliefs and intentions. It is hard to believe that its author is a female economist who used to have some doubts about the choices made.

Reading Experience

The article made me inspired with the intention to make independent choices and rely on personal interests and possibilities. It helps to understand that a person should not follow someone’s expectations. Even if such a complicated major as Economics opens its doors to all female students, who want to try being economists, people should not be afraid to experiment and choose in accordance with their own needs.

Importance in the Real World

Though this article is written on paper, it has a considerable impact on the real world. I have met such people who tried to reconsider their own interests and demands just because they are not similar to the already established traditions and attitudes. My male friend is good at haircutting, make-up, and designing. Still, his parents do not even want to hear about his chances to become a person of fashion. They want to see him as an independent owner of a restaurant. This article should show such prejudiced people like my friend’s family members that personal interests may contradict the social expectations and be justified within a short period of time. People should learn how to follow their own dreams, make their own decisions, and even be upset with the mistakes made by their own. Life is something personal. If a woman wants to connect her life with the “male-founded” world of economics, she should have such a chance.

Argumentative Techniques and Evidence

Zhu constructs her arguments in a very interesting and personal way. In the beginning, she uses some general facts and conclusions to prove the urgency of the topic chosen. For example, she mentions that many women and some men have turned off economics because of lack of exposure and misconception of what economics can actually be about (Zhu 7). At the same time, she appeals to such values as fairness and efficiency, explaining that women just cannot consider economics as their major. To support the correctness of her choice, Zhu describes her own experience and emotions and proves that “people are likely to feel more of a sense of belonging in places where there are people they can relate to” (7). This consumption helps to realize that a person may be involved in any sphere of life in case there is the required portion of the support.

Work Cited

Zhu, Maria, Boya. “An Undergraduate Major’s Perspective.” Committee on the Status of Women in the Economics Profession 2013:7-8. Web.

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