FEMALE ECONOMISTS FURIOUS

THE economics profession is facing a mounting crisis of sexual harassment, discrimination and bullying that women in the field say has pushed many of them to the sidelines - or out of the field entirely.

Those issues took center stage at the American Economic Association's annual meeting, the largest gathering of the profession, just last month, in Atlanta.

Prompted by substantiated allegations of harassment against one of the most prominent young economists in the United States, top women in the field shared stories of their own struggles with discrimination.

Graduate students and junior professors demanded immediate steps by the association to help victims of harassment and discipline economists who violate the group's newly adopted code of conduct.

Leading male economists offered an unprecedented acknowledgement of harassment and discrimination in the field.

''Economics certainly has a problem,'' Ben S. Bernanke, the former Federal Reserve Chairman, who took over as the association's president this year, said during a panel discussion.

''The profession has, ''unfortunately, a reputation for hostility toward women and minorities,'' he said.

During a panel discussion on gender issues, Ms. Yellen was one of the several women who shared stories of discrimination and bullying.

Her fellow panelists described a list of ''known'' male predators in academic departments who have never been punished for behavior that included repeatedly making unwanted sexual advances towards junior colleagues.

One of the panelists, Susan Athey, a Stanford economist, said she had bought ''khakis and loafers'' to fit in with the men in the lunchroom of her first economics department, at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

She did so even though the department was the ''most supportive environment'' she had encountered in her career.

''I spent all my time hoping that no one would remember I was a female,''said Ms. Athey, a past winner of prestigious  award for young economists.

''I didn't want to remind people that I am a sexual being.''

The honor and serving of the latest global operational research on Females and Discrimination, continues. The World Students Society thanks author and researchers Ben Casselman, and Jim Tankersley.