ConU’s economics education: The potential key to equality
The age-old problem of diversity in the field of economics is seeing sprouts of innovative solutions
While studying at Concordia University’s graduate school for economics, Tonia Omenyi felt some of her study material did not reflect her lived experiences.
As an international student from Nigeria, she already had to navigate gaps in language barriers, knowledge and careers.
Compared to her undergraduate education in her home country, the level of statistical mathematics the degree demanded of her felt very foreign, as well as the America-centric approach to many concepts.
To her, it seemed more and more that the program did not “service all students equally.”
“Most of the data examples on macro and microeconomics were on Canada and the United States,” Omenyi said. “And they are outdated, from the 1980s. [...] What makes a top economics school? They look at real-life data and are solving very current, real-life issues.”
Cases like Omenyi’s are not rare, and have often been subjects of research on how the disconnect between students, classroom content, professors and career opportunities consequently lead to lessened interest in the field of economics. According to a 2022 research article from The Journal of Economics Education on diversity in undergraduate economics classrooms, those more subject to this disconnect are gender and ethnically diverse people.
The problem extends to students considering enrolling in an economics program, or their presumptions about the program in general. At McGill University’s economics department, a 2022-23 diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) survey found that students in the examined minority groups were likelier to view the program negatively than those who do not identify as such.
The field of economics, both in the job market and in school, is a known example of the “leaky pipeline” analogy. The phenomenon refers to the declining share of women within every successive academic or workplace echelon.
For instance, according to a Canadian Women Economists Committee 2022-23 survey report, 17 per cent of full-time professors in the average Canadian university economics department are women.
Omenyi graduated in 2022 with a master’s and stayed in the field, but has acute experience with the barriers women face while in the workforce.
“It’s male-dominated and there aren’t many opportunities,” Omenyi said. “There’s inequality in this field, and companies need to cautiously start hiring women. We have value and bring a different perspective.”
In 2023, Omenyi, along with Concordia economics alumni Adewunmi Ajike, founded WomEconomics. The non-profit aims to mend the diversity problem, amongst other issues in the sector, such as knowledge gaps and career opportunities.
The organization’s three-fold approach—We Events, We Grow, We Connect—looks to more consistently educate economics graduates on what their skillset can bring them. It also wants to make the field seem more appealing to potential students interested in joining the program.
“In my undergrad, I felt there was a gap in the economics program in terms of what career services, help and guidance were available to us,” Ajike said. “A lot of other students had the same frustration. There was a want to rewrite what economics is about.”
WomEconomics strives to eventually connect employers directly to women in the field. For now, the group is focused on promoting career events and platforming women in economics who are currently in high-level jobs.
“We want to bring female directors, VPs, bank employees and share their knowledge to encourage women to stay in the field,” Omenyi said, “to tell them that there are opportunities for them, they can make money in the field.”
Many studies, such as a 2016 research paper published in The Journal of Economic Perspectives, suggest that a reviewed approach to teaching economics is an important step to mending the gender and ethnic gap.
In November 2023, University of British Columbia economics professor and researcher Julien Picault, along with Marymount University economics professor Amel Ben Abdesslem, researched and constructed a lecture plan that would allow students to learn principles of economics through exposure to Netflix series from different parts of the world.
“When it comes to teaching economics specifically, we have to consider two things,” Picault said. “On one hand, how do we connect these abstract models we’re presenting to students and their reality? On the other hand, how can we start including diversity? How do we start talking about these things? Our textbooks don’t do a good job at it.”
The lecture plan utilizes clips from gender and ethnically diverse shows in different languages that depict economics concepts. Students are then questioned through in-class assignments, homework and extra-credit work.
While Picault clarified that this is not an end-all-be-all solution to the issue of DEI in economics education, he specified that many instructors struggle with starting in general, and that this plan can be a source.
A similar initiative can be found in the classroom of Concordia economics lecturer Anca Alecsandru.
In her international economic policy and institutions course, there are no PowerPoints. Instead, what is displayed is a projection of her digital notes. As she brings up certain points, students can chime in left and right.
Professor Alecsandru then erases, rewrites, crosses out and circles everything she hears. From one semester to another, her notes have never once looked the same, a process she finds very important to her classroom environment.
“In my in-class discussions, I encourage my students to bring out their examples based on their life experience,” Alecsandru said. "This makes discussions very rich and diverse, because they’re pushed to think about how theory they learn in class applies to their own lives.”
However, not all economics courses at Concordia offer such opportunity and flexibility to the professors.
Dr. Jorgen Hansen, chair of the economics department at Concordia, shared that there are no dedicated classes to discuss DEI, nor are there any strategies directly implemented by the department.
“We have no fully discussion-based classes or instructions to professors to approach the topic,” Hansen said. “It’s up to them individually, [...] we don’t provide the forum to have these conversations.”
According to Hansen, at the graduate level, the program becomes significantly more statistical, which consequently lowers discussion spaces. While the course structure is mostly lecture-based and could take a while to see any changes, Hansen agrees that a curriculum review is overdue.
He said that the university demands program appraisals every five to 10 years, which allows faculty to question what they are doing, how they are doing it and what should be changed.
The 2016 study found that active learning, or discussion-based formats, could greatly benefit economics, since “active learning increases exam scores and decreases failure rates relative to traditional lecturing, with particular benefit for students from disadvantaged backgrounds and for women in male-dominated fields.”
It’s a strategy Omenyi remembers one of her professors using back in Nigeria during her undergraduate education.
“No one taught the way he taught,” Omenyi said. “His classes were full. People from higher levels had to come and experience it. Pictures, videos, discussions no matter what we were looking at. It’s about that emphasis on the technique you teach with.”
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