GENEVA, Feb. 5 (Xinhua) -- A new study has found a sizable gender gap among economists in Europe, with women and men holding different views on a broad range of issues including austerity policy, the International Labor Organization (ILO) said Monday.
The issues where women and men differ in perception included, regulation of high-risk financial transactions, renewable energy, hydraulic fracturing, drilling in the Arctic Refuge and genetically modified crops.
"These results are significant because they demonstrate the importance of including women and men when economic policy is being debated and developed," says the ILO's David Kucera, one of the authors of the study.
FAVOR MARKET SOLUTIONS OR GOV'T INTERVENTIONS?
Entitled Gender and European Economic Policy: A Survey of the Views of European Economists on Contemporary Economic Policy, the study finds that female economists in the European Union (EU) are less likely than their male counterparts to favor market solutions over government interventions.
Two U.S. academics from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln and an ILO expert authored the report.
Women are more likely to favor environmental protection policies, the study found.
For example, women economists are more likely than men to disagree with the notion that stronger employment protection results in weaker economic growth, and more likely to agree that the EU should continue its ban on the planting of genetically modified crops.
OPPORTUNITIES FAVOR MEN OR WOMEN?
The study also finds that the average female EU economist is more likely to believe that men have greater opportunities than women in the labor market and in higher education.
The largest difference of opinion in this topic concerned equality of opportunity for women in academe.
Male economists surveyed were more likely to believe that opportunities either favor women over men or are equal, whereas female economists surveyed were more likely to see opportunities as favoring men more than women.
"The changing demographics of economics will bring more women into the field. Our research suggests that economic policy will change as a result," says Ann Mari May, the lead author on the study.
The authors -- May and Mary McGarvey of the University of Nebraska-Lincoln and Kucera -- surveyed economists at universities in 18 EU countries.
