Opinie. Tijd om de bakens te verzetten. Over gender en de economische crisis

Samenvatting

This article states that gender played a crucial role in the economic crisis by the way masculine behavior and firm policies were directedto competition for short term profit maximization and incomes. Economic science, using financial terminology and theorizing the status quo, is here perceived as too intertwined with international finance to be of great help in providing useful analyses during the break down of the financial system. Moreover, the absence of women in the Board and trading rooms, that to a large extend caused the narrowing of perspective as observed, can also be identified in the main economic departments. Here competition for publications and quotations has replaced the economists’ contributions to the public debate and policy advise. The author argues that an effective strategy may be to bring in women on a large scale in high positions in Banking, business, universities and politics, and change the models of economic behavior of managers, policy makers, consumers and the economy along with it.