Marquette University faculty, staff and students are invited to attend this year’s Marburg Memorial Lecture on Friday, Nov. 10, from 2:30 p.m. to 4:00 p.m. in the Weasler Auditorium. Those interested in signing up can do so on the Marquette Business website.
Dr. Marianne Bertrand, the Chris P. Dialynas Distinguished Service Professor of Economics at the University of Chicago, will be this year’s featured speaker. Her speech, entitled “Gender, Stereotypes and Inequality,” will examine the gender wage and labor force participation gap.
In the U.S. in 2023, women earn about 80 cents for every dollar earned by men. Furthermore, women remain much less likely than men to pursue education and careers in STEM, despite the high demand for these skills in the labor market today. Women are also highly under-represented in the top layers of corporate America: in 2023, only 8 percent of CEOs of S&P 500 companies are women.
Dr. Bertrand will review these facts, provide historical context and discuss the most likely explanations for these remaining inequities in consideration of the most recent research in economics and the broader social sciences. Special emphasis will be placed on how the different choices men and women make both in the education and labor market spheres might reflect stereotypical thinking and gender norms. The lecture will also discuss policy implications, ties to growing income inequality and how different educational and labor choices made by both men and women will shape the contours of this problem going forward.
The lecture series is named in honor of the late Theodore F. Marburg, a long-time member of the economics department. The goal of the Marburg Memorial Lecture is to provide a forum for the discussion of moral, philosophical and social dimensions of economic issues, as well as continue Professor Marburg’s commitment to the economic aspects of peace and justice. The Marburg Lecture is made possible by the generosity of the Marburg family and through the support of the Center for Applied Economics. The Marburg lecture is generally held in November of each year.
Those with questions about the event can contact Dr. Ethan Schmick, assistant professor of economics, at ethan.schmick@marquette.edu.
