Kenneth A. Small, Co-Editor - University of California-Irvine

This year marks the 25th anniversary of the founding of CSWEP, so we thought it a good time to take stock. How are women doing in our profession? How much progress has been made since women's participation was officially recognized by the American Economic Association as a significant issue? And what role have the programs promoted by CSWEP played?

We begin by reprinting the resolution passed by the AEA on December 28, 1971. It declares that economics is not exclusively a man's field. It commits the AEA to undertake actions to eliminate discrimination against women in admissions and employment. It calls for the appointment of women to editorial boards and as program chairs. It calls for open listing of all job openings, a practice that was not common up to then. It establishes CSWEP and mandates it to make recommendations for affirmative action.

One of CSWEP's first tasks was to issue a report to the Association. The report's first half consists of a thoughtful essay on "Role Prejudice as an Economic Problem." We think the principles articulated there are durable and deserve to be pondered again, so we reprint this section of the report.

We then present four contemporary views on the questions raised above. All are by women whose own careers exemplify the degree of excellence and accomplishment that many women aspire to. Three of them have also served (or are serving) as chair of CSWEP. Carolyn Shaw Bell, Katharine Coman Professor of Economics and Wellesley and the founding CSWEP chair, provides a delightful historical perspective on the advent of the organization within AEA politics and a unique view of what it means today. Rebecca M. Blank, Professor of Economics at Northwestern University, writes about women in academics; using her expertise as a labor economist, she reviews and interprets the available facts, including data she helped collect as CSWEP chair from 1993 through 1995. Sharon P. Smith, Dean of the College of Business Administration at Fordham University, uses her current position as well as her previous career in business to illuminate how the dramatic changes in business during these 25 years have interacted with affirmative action to change the nature of women's business careers. Finally the current CSWEP chair, Robin L. Bartlett, Professor of Economics and the Laura C. Harris Chair at Denison University, gives a perspective more directly focused on CSWEP's role.

It's been an interesting 25 years. Some readers will recognize in these pages events that affected their lives. Others may well be surprised to discover that things were not always as they are now, and that things taken for granted came about and continue only through tireless effort. Many will be distressed at the incompleteness of achievement of CSWEP's goals. Some may conclude that past efforts have borne fruit and that new and different goals are more urgent for the next quarter century. Wherever your own perspective, we hope that the efforts of women and men over the years, and our modest attempt to capture them in these vignettes, will be recognized as a significant part of the history of the profession in which you toil. We also hope this understanding will make your toil more rewarding.

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