The Women in Economics Network, along with the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet and the ANU, has established a mentoring program for women enrolled in economics courses through the ANU Research School of Economics.

The program connects women enrolled in first or second year economics courses with inspiring professional female economists from a range of backgrounds across government, academia and the private sector. Our mentors are at the apex of economic research, policy making and advice in Australia.

Through meetings with their mentors, the program will provide students with an insight into the day to day life of an economist, the types of career options that are available and demonstrate just how powerful an economics degree can be.

The program has been developed in response to the decline in the number of women studying economics along with a lack of prominent female economists in the public eye. Mentoring programs have been shown to be successful for motivating and inspiring students, and for improving performance and retention rates.

The program is being run as a pilot with the aim of expanding it in the future. Therefore an important part of the program is that we will be evaluating its effectiveness. We will be asking for participants’ consent to assist with this.