Better Together? Female Instructors, Female Advisors, and Women’s Persistence in Economics

July 2026

Female instructors and female advisors each matter for women’s persistence in economics. We ask whether the two work better together than apart and whether this is specific to women. Using administrative records from a broad-access public university, we combine quasi-random instructor assignment with plausibly exogenous advisor assignment. Among women, the share taking an advanced economics course rises from 14 to 23 percent when both are female, more than either alone suggests, while men show no comparable pattern. Major completion moves in the same direction, although the evidence is more suggestive. The effect of a female instructor may depend on the advising that students receive.

Keywords

gender gap, economics education, role models, faculty gender, academic advising, complementarities

Education level

Post-secondary education

Topics

Pathways to and Through Postsecondary