The Paula Principle

Month: January 2020

Careers, diversity and productivity

This post links three interesting events/publications from the last week. First, I attended an invigorating conference on Women in Economics at Warwick University. The organiser Stephanie Paredes Fuentes and her team did a great job in bringing students from many universities (and countries - a very international group) together to discuss some of the challenges facing women doing economics - one of the very few subjects where men still outnumber women. I was present only for the panel session on the Sunday. Luisa Affuso, chief economist at Ofcom, graphically described some of the severe challenges she had faced as a pioneer in her profession, and this led to some discussion…
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Chess and female empowerment

I had an unusual, and enjoyable, invitation last month, to speak on the Paula Principle - to a conference on chess and female empowerment. The primary focus was on encouraging girls not just to start playing chess but to continue after the age of 11. Until that age there are as many girls as boys playing, but apparently there is a very steep drop-off as they enter puberty. Why? Of course in part it's because girls find other things to interest them. I assumed the main reason was that they dislike the individual aggression, the hand-to-hand combat of chess. Well, we were told that girls are just as competitive. But…
Read More

Careers, diversity and productivity

This post links three interesting events/publications from the last week. First, I attended an invigorating conference on Women in Economics at Warwick University. The organiser Stephanie Paredes Fuentes and her team did a great job in bringing students from many universities (and countries - a very international group) together to discuss some of the challenges facing women doing economics - one of the very few subjects where men still outnumber women. I was present only for the panel session on the Sunday. Luisa Affuso, chief economist at Ofcom, graphically described some of the severe challenges she had faced as a pioneer in her profession, and this led to some discussion…
Read More

Chess and female empowerment

I had an unusual, and enjoyable, invitation last month, to speak on the Paula Principle - to a conference on chess and female empowerment. The primary focus was on encouraging girls not just to start playing chess but to continue after the age of 11. Until that age there are as many girls as boys playing, but apparently there is a very steep drop-off as they enter puberty. Why? Of course in part it's because girls find other things to interest them. I assumed the main reason was that they dislike the individual aggression, the hand-to-hand combat of chess. Well, we were told that girls are just as competitive. But…
Read More