You are here: American University College of Arts & Sciences Economics Program on Gender Analysis in Economics

Program on Gender Analysis in Economics (PGAE)

PGAE is a graduate research and teaching program emphasizing on theoretical and empirical economics training in gender analysis. Projects investigate the role of gender in social reproduction, labor markets, finance, and development — centered on the well-being of women and other under-represented groups. PGAE is a leader in producing policy analysts and scholars promoting the greater empowerment of women worldwide.

 

Global Scholars Shared their Research in Cape Town, 2023Global Scholars shared their research in Cape Town, 2023

PGAE's international community supports:

  • Graduate degrees built around a core of shared course and including both MA and PhD in Economics with gender tracks and a Graduate Certificate on Gender Analysis in Economics.
  • Projects and partnerships, including the Care Economies in Context project, with Centre for Global Social Policy at the University of Toronto and the National University of Mongolia, and the related project "Investing in Inclusive and Sustainable Care: A Macroeconomic Approach to Understanding Care in Mongolia."
  • Upcoming events include the Care Conference 2024, co-sponsored with the Institute for Women’s Policy Research, April 5, 2024, at American University. This collaborative event brings together academic and policy researchers, advocates, and policymakers to delve into new research and policy initiatives on care, with a specific focus on gender and racial equity throughout the life cycle.
Care Conference.

Care Conference 2024
Economic Policies for Gender & Racial Equity—Earnings, Care, and Public Revenue
April 5, 2024, 9:00-5:00
Reception 5:00-7:00 p.m. 

Pre-Register for the Care Conference, presented in partnership with the Institute for Women’s Policy Research.

Graduate Programs

AU's Program on Gender Analysis in Economics (PGAE) differs from related graduate programs with its gender-focused yet economics-based program.

The program takes a global perspective by collaborating with Visiting Scholars and incorporating relevant literature on Africa, Asia, Latin America, the Post-socialist world and OECD countries. Our location in Washington, DC, provides unique opportunities for internships and part-time work leading to full-time employment and careers with public and private institutions in the Washington area and beyond.

Degrees Offered

Students in either the MA or PhD in Economics program can do a track in Gender Analysis. Students who already have at least an MA in Economics can apply to do a Certificate in Gender Analysis in Economics. Students in each of these three options study together in two common core courses: Gender Economics I (previously listed as ECON-674 Gender Perspectives on Economic Analysis: Microeconomics) and Gender Economics II (previously listed as ECON-675 Gender Perspectives on Economic Analysis: Macroeconomics).

AU PhD grads and faculty reunite at IAFFE 2023 in Cape Town, South Africa.

AU PhD grads and faculty reunite at IAFFE 2023 in Cape Town, South Africa.

Gender Working Group

The PGAE is led by co-directors Dr. Mieke Meurs and Dr. Natalia Radchenko, guided by the Gender Work Group (GWG), comprising department faculty, resident scholars, and graduate students. GWG members have strong relations with a variety of relevant organizations, including the International Association for Feminist Economics (IAFFE), the Institute for Women’s Policy Research, the Washington Center for Equitable Growth, the School of International Service (SIS) at AU, the Census Bureau, the Bureau of Labor Statistics, and other American University entities with a focus on women, including the AU Women in Politics Center and the Washington College of Law.

Faculty

  • Sung Ah Bahk is a labor economist whose primary research interests focus on labor market transitions, labor supply, and inequalities in the labor market. Her recent research includes eldercare and its impact on caregivers’ labor supply decisions, as well as poverty measurement.

  • Professor Mary Hansen is an expert in U.S. social policy. She is widely published in the fields of child policy, bankruptcy, and economic history. Her work addresses key issues in race, gender, and economic inequality. Her research has been funded by the National Science Foundation, the National Institutes of Health, the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, and the Institute for New Economic Thinking. She has been quoted or cited by news outlets including WAMU, The Economist, Fortune, CNN, and the LA Times. She has given public testimony before the DC City Council and in Federal District Court.

  • Assistant Professor Kelly Jones is an applied microeconomist and her work focuses on evaluating the impacts of various policies and interventions on gender equality and welfare. Her recent work includes experimental analyses of women’s risk coping strategies in the face of financial shocks, and the implications for women’s sexual and reproductive health in Sub-Saharan Africa. She has also analyzed the impact of US foreign policy on women’s fertility outcomes internationally. In mid-2018, she launched a new line of research exploring the economic implications of access to reproductive health services in the United States. Other ongoing work includes field experiments in Uganda and Ghana on the role of gender dynamics in intra-household allocation of resources and productive activities. In particular, she is exploring women’s contributions to and empowerment within small-scale commercial agriculture.
  • Professor Mieke Meurs has recently taught Heterodox Microeconomics, Political Economy, and a Complex Problems course called What's It Worth? Her research and publications are mainly in the area of feminist economics, care work, and gender bargaining power. 
  • Assistant Professor Natalia Radchenko is an applied econometrician. Her work includes development of new concepts of intrahousehold inequality and empirical methodologies to better measure inequality, as well as analysis of labor market outcomes in developing countries.
  • Maria Caballero Sanchez is an applied microeconomist, focusing on research at the intersection of labor economics, the economics of migration, and development economics. She focuses on understanding the effects of economic and policy shocks on migrants’ destination countries in their communities of origin.

  • Associate Professor Mahmud Yesuf’s research interests include poverty, environment and development issues in low income countries, with a special focus on households’ behavioral issues (such as risk aversion). He has an international teaching and research experience working on various projects with the World Bank and International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) in Africa. He has taught classes in principles of Microeconomics, Environmental Economics, Survey of African Economies, and Applied Econometrics.
  • Professor John Willoughby’s fields of interest include economic history and the economics of the Middle East. Recent publications focus on higher education in the Gulf states.

Professor Thomas Husted is an applied microeconomist. His primary field is public economics. His research examines the political economy of various government expenditure programs, including primary, secondary and post-secondary education, income redistribution, and federal disaster aid.

Senior Professorial Lecturer Evan Kraft received his PhD from the New School for Social Research in 1990. He was Assistant Professor at the Perdue School of Business, Salisbury State University, Maryland from 1990-95. From 1995-2010, he worked in Croatia, serving as a Visiting Scholar, Director of the Research Department, and Advisor to the Governor of the Croatian National Bank. From 2007 to 2010, he was an external Associate Professor at the University of Split, Croatia. He was Economist-in-Residence from Fall 2011 to Spring 2019 and Senior Professorial Lecturer since Fall 2019 at American University. He also has been Undergraduate Program Director since 2015. Professor Kraft's research interests include transition economies, monetary and macroeconomic policy, banking competition and regulation, financial stability and economic inequality.

Professor Emerita Maria Floro taught gender analysis in economics (micro) and development microeconomics. Her publications include Informal Credit Markets and the New Institutional EconomicsWomen's Work in the World Economy, and Gender, Development, and Globalization: Economics as if All People Mattered and articles on gender and work intensity, time use, care work, environmental degradation, vulnerability, and informal employment, urban food security, poverty, household savings, credit and debt service burden. Professor Floro also lead the Care Work and the Economy Project (www.careworkeconomy.org).

Kelly Jones (with Britni Wilcher) (2024) "Reducing maternal labor market detachment: A role for paid family leave," Labour Economics, 87.

Mary Hansen (with Michael E Martell and Leanne Roncolato) (2022). "Tolerance and the labor supply of cohabiting gays and lesbians," Journal of Demographic Economics 88(4).

Kelly Jones (with Kate Ambler and Michael O'Sullivan) (2022) "Empowering Women to Engage in Commercial Agriculture," American Economic Review, 112:546-550.

Kelly Jones (with Mayra Pineda-Torres) (2022). "Trap'd teens: Impacts of abortion provider regulations on fertility & education," IZA Discussion Paper, 14837.

Mieke Meurs (with Amarjargal Amartuvshin, Otgontugs Banzragch, Mayagmasuren Boldbaatar, and Georgia Poyatzis) (2022). “Women Are Herders Too: Women’s Role and Bargaining Power in Mongolian Herding Households,” Central Asian Survey 41(1). 

Mieke Meurs (with Maigul Nugmanova, Aizhan Salimzhanova, and Stevie Marvin) (2022). “Gender Regime and Women’s Employment in Kazakhstan: Toward a State-Supported Dual Earner Dual Carer Model?” Comparative Economic Studies, 63: 603–622.

Kelly Jones (with K. Ambler and M.O’Sullivan) (2021). Facilitating women’s access to an economic empowerment initiative: Evidence from Uganda. World Development138, 105224. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.worlddev.2020.105224

Kelly Jones (with V. Hoffman) (2021). Market incentives for technology adoption: experimental evidence from the market for maize in Kenya. Forthcoming in World Development. IFPRI Discussion Paper 07146,
https://www.ifpri.org/publication/improving-food-safety-farm-experimental-evidence-kenya-agricultural-incentives-and

Mieke Meurs (with Giddings, L.) (2021). Elder care and paid work: gender differences in the relationship between unpaid elder care work and employment in Bulgaria. Journal of European Social Policy, 0958928720974181.https://doi.org/10.1177/0958928720974181

Mary Eschelbach Hansen (with Xie, D) (2020). Supply of bank loans and business debts: A view from historical bankruptcy cases. Review of Financial Economics38, 170-187.https://doi.org/10.1002/rfe.1076

Natalia Radchenko (with Natalia Kyui) (2020). The changing composition of academic majors and wage dynamics: Beyond mean returns. Journal of Comparative Economics. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jce.2020.07.009

Natalia Radchenko (2020). Student evaluations of teaching: unidimensionality, subjectivity, and biases. Education Economics28(6), 549-566. https://doi.org/10.1080/09645292.2020.1814997

Maria Floro (with Yokying, P) (2020). Parents’ labour force participation and children’s involvement in work activities: evidence from Thailand. Oxford Development Studies48(3), 287-303. https://doi.org/10.1080/13600818.2020.1792431

Mahmud Yesuf (with Maria Floro., & T. Woldesenbet) (2019). Gender and Perception of Climate Change in Ethiopia. International Journal of Climate Change: Impacts & Responses11(2). https://doi.org/10.18848/1835-7156/CGP/v11i02/21-39

Meurs, Mieke (with Rita Ismaylov) (2019). Improving Assessments of Gender Bargaining Power: A Case Study from Bangladesh, Feminist Economics 25(1).

Mary Eschelbach Hansen (with Martell, M.E. & Roncolato, L) (2019). A labor of love: The impact of same-sex marriage on labor supply. Review of Economics of the Household, 1-19 https://doi.org/10.1007/s11150-019-09454-1

Mahmud Yesuf (with Bluffstone, R) (2019). Consumption discount rates, risk aversion and wealth in low-income countries: evidence from a field experiment in rural Ethiopia. Journal of African Economies28(1), 18-38. https://doi.org/10.1093/jae/ejy010

Recent Visiting Scholars

Amartuvshin Amarjargal is a PhD in Economics and professor of University of the Humanities. Basically she researches rural poverty, income inequality and herders issues of Mongolia. She received her PhD in Economics from Kobe University and was a visiting scholar at the American University in Washington DC and a collaborator of the NASA project with professors from Michigan State University on Urbanization Process of East Asian Countries. She actively involves in consultancy to ADB, UNDP and World Bank Projects on CBA analysis of the mining sector, sanitary issues and its economic values and financing methodology of rural primary health care and etc.

Research interests:

  • Bargaining power of herders women of Mongolia
  • Mining impact on rural migration
  • Herders market integration issues
  • Local community involvement
  • Cost benefit analysis of a mining sector

Giang has been a lecturer at the Faculty of International Economics, Foreign Trade University, Vietnam, since 2009. She teaches Environmental economics, Research methodology, Cost Benefit Analysis, and Green Economy.

Her research interest includes environmental economics, sustainable development issues especially in agricultural economics, and sustainable consumption/production. Since her interest is related to sustainable development issues, she is teaching and conducting research related to gender economics and equality.

She completed her Master’s degree in economics from Monash University in 2015, then got Ph.D. in Economics in 2020 from RMIT University (Melbourne).

Currently, Giang is working on different projects funded by Ministry of Training and Education (Vietnam), GDN, and ERIA to conduct studies on sustainable consumption and production in Vietnam. She can use statistical softwares such as Stata and SmartPLS for data analysis.

Her publications are on Ecological Economics, Journal of Environmental Management, and Current Psychology, which are related to agricultural economics, sustainable production, and behavioral economics. 

Juna Miluka is an Associate Professor of Economics and Dean of the Faculty of Economy and Business at the University of New York, Tirana. She holds a PhD in economics from the American University, Washington, DC. Prof. Miluka teaches a variety of courses in microeconomics and development economics. She has extensive experience working as a technical expert with many international organizations conducting research on the gender wage gap and inequalities in the labor market, poverty, vulnerability, impact evaluation, migration, education, etc. She has been part of many international teams giving her contribution in calculating the poverty level in Albania, measuring the gender wage gap, constructing vulnerability mapping for women and children across regions of Albania, assessing gender differences in endowments, economic opportunities, and agency, etc. She has also co-authored the first Gender Equality Index report for Albania, and her research on vulnerability has been used by employment offices to create a profiling tool for the unemployed jobseekers.

Khanh has been a lecturer of Department of Macroeconomics at the Faculty of International Economics, Foreign Trade University, Vietnam since 2019. His research interests are economic growth, digital transformation, digital economy, innovation, university-industry cooperation, career development, and student mobility. His studies employ both quantitative and qualitative approaches. In the field of practical teaching experiences, he has participated in scientific research projects in the context of digital transformation. He has 5 years of professional working experiences in public-, private sectors in Vietnam and the UK. He also has extensive professional experiences in multicultural settings as he completed his Master’s degree in International Business Management at University of Huddersfield, UK.

Laura C. Blanco has a PhD in Politics, Economics and Philosophy from the University of York and a Bachelor and a MSc. in Economics from Universidad de Costa Rica. She is currently an associate professor at the Department of Economics at Universidad de Costa Rica. Her research interests include gender, labor and educational economics. She has published on topics such as gender wage differentials among academic tenured staff, wage differentials among graduates from public and private universities, occupational segregation, sexual violence and access to contraception. She also has non-academic experience in finances, zoning planning and educational policy.

María del Pilar Castillo was born in Colombia and currently lives in that country, she is married and a mom of two sons. She completed her Ph.D. in Economics at the Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul in Brazil. For eighteen years Prof. Castillo has been teaching courses in Economics at Universidad del Valle, in Cali. Currently, she has two courses in Game Theory and Feminist Economics. In the research field, she was conducting a study on the vulnerabilities of young people in Cali, who live in violent and poverty contexts. A few months ago, she finished another one about the living conditions of black young women living in segregated neighborhoods, both studies were funded by the International Development Research Centre, and involved constant work with communities, with direct interventions on the territory. In fact, the first research resulted in a book on invisible socioeconomic barriers faced by young people in Cali, which outlines the main results of her research on that marginalized youth population. At this moment with her work team, they are finishing a second book with the results of the research on vulnerable women in Cali. She now hopes to conduct research on the effect of the consequences of inefficient policies implemented on women's unpaid workload, focusing on urban violence and public transportation.

Maria Jose Sauma Chacon is an Instructor of Economics at the University of Costa Rica and economic consultant in several international organizations. She obtained a Bachelor's degree in Economics from the University of Costa Rica, followed by a Master's degree in Development Economics from the University of Sussex. Currently, she is working on research on the gender wage gap in Costa Rica as well as other inequalities in the labor market. Additionally, she has worked in various projects related to green and inclusive economic development, as well as supported different Central American countries with their decarbonization plans.

Rejla Bozdo is an Associate Professor at the Faculty of Economics at the University of Tirana. After earning her degree in 2005 from the Faculty of Economics at University of Tirana, she began her career as an academic staff member, and is currently a full-time lecturer for subjects related to marketing.

In 2009, Rejla completed her MBA studies at the Institute Universitarie Kurt Bosch, based in Sion, Switzerland. She later earned her "Doctor of Economic Sciences" degree in 2015 from the University of Tirana, with a dissertation on "The relationship between corporate brand, reputation and public relations."

Aside from her academic work, Rejla has also worked in the business sector, specializing in marketing research, marketing strategy, marketing communications, and public relations. Additionally, she serves as a management consultant and expert for private Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) and has contributed to vocational education and training.

Rejla is an active public figure in Albania, regularly contributing articles on social and economic issues and participating in media panels. She is particularly committed to helping youth enter the labor market, providing trainings, coaching, and support.

In 2019, Rejla co-founded Changemakers Albania, a non-profit organization that focuses on creating positive change in Albania, particularly for youth, education, innovation, women, talented individuals, and those who are disadvantaged. She currently serves as its Executive Director.

Throughout her career, Rejla has participated in numerous national and international training programs and conferences, including those organized/supported by Robert Schuman Institute, Konrad Adenauer Stiftung, NDI, IRI, USAID, and Harvard Kennedy School of Government.

PhD Candidate Nataly Rendon Gonzalez is a Professor in EIA University, Columbia. She has a PhD and Masters in Economics from EAFIT University, Medellin, Colombia. Her research focuses on crime economics and gender, international trade, economic growth, monetary policy. Funded by EIA and EAFIT Universities, Dr. Rendon will join AU Department of Economics as a Visiting Scholar and research determinants of women's criminality in Medellín.

Dr. Pereira Vieceli has a PhD in Economics from Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul (UFRGS). She is a member of the Centre of Feminist Studies, Extension and Research at UFRGS and a columnist at portal Democracy and Work World. Her research interests include the labor market, economic development, Brazilian economy, feminism and relations of gender and race.

Dr. Afful-Mensah is a Lecturer at University of Ghana. She has a PhD in Economics from Lombardy Advanced School of Economic Research (Universities of Milan, Brescia and Pavia), Milan, Italy. Her research interests include Economics of Maternal and Child Healthcare Utilization, Economics of Development (Aid, Poverty, Health outcomes) and Inequality in Health. Coming to AU as a PAGE Visiting Fellow, she will research household shocks in Ghana – understanding the gender differences in the choice of mitigating strategies and economic implications.

Dr. Dias Kuhn is a Professor at the Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul (UFRGS), Brazil and a coordinator of research projects in South Economies and interculturality at UFRGS. She has a PhD and Masters Degree from UFRGS. Daniela’s research interests include Rural Development, Agrarian issues in Brazil and Latin America, Solidarity Economy, Elements of the
Environmental Issue. Coming to AU as a PGAE Vising Scholar, she will develop her research on Rural Women in Latin America: social reproduction and ways of life.

Dr. Boakye-Yiadom is a Senior Lecturer at the Department of Economics, University of Ghana. He has a PhD in Economics from the University of Bath, UK. Professor Boakye-Yiadom’s areas of research include the microeconomic analysis of migration, remittances, and poverty/wellbeing; gender dimension of asset ownership. Coming to AU as a PGAE Visiting Scholar, he will research the gender dimension of child fostering, especially in Ghana and other West African countries.

Lekha S. Chakraborty is a Professor at the National Institute of Public Finance and Policy (NIPFP), an autonomous research institute of the Ministry of Finance of India; and an affiliated Research Associate with the Levy Economics Institute of Bard College, New York. She was the pioneer economist who worked with the Chief Economic Advisor for institutionalising Gender Budgeting in India.She is the author of Fiscal Consolidation, Budget deficits and Macroeceonomy (Sage, 2016) and a co-author of Social Sector in Decentralised Economy: India in the Era of Globalisation (Cambridge University Press, 2016). Previously, Lekha has worked for the World Bank, the IMF, UN Women, and the Commonwealth Secretariat. She has taught as a Visiting Professor at Carleton University (Canada), Uppsala University (Sweden) and University of Utah.

As a PGAE Visiting Scholar, Lekha is advancing her empirical research investigating the integration of gender perspectives into fiscal and public policy making and was a featured speaker of the Spring 2019 Gender Seminar Series in AU. 

Lorelei C. Mendoza is a Professor of Economics at the University of the Philippines Baguio (UPB). She was a PGAE visiting scholar under the Fulbright Senior Scholars’ Program in the spring semester 2019. While at American University, she conducted her research on "Gender Norms and Schooling Outcomes among the Highlanders of the Cordillera Region in the Philippines during the American Colonial Period, 1904-1945” using archival materials and  documents at the National Archives in College Park, Maryland. Before coming to American University,  Professor Mendoza served as Dean of the College of Social Sciences and Director of the Cordillera Studies Center at UP Baguio. Her areas of research include gender and household economics and natural resource management.

Otgontugs Banzragch (Otgo) is the Dean of Graduate School and Professor of Economics at the National University of Mongolia in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia. She has a Ph.D. in Education and Economics from Colombia University and a Master’s Degree in Economics from the University of Manchester. Her research focuses on development economics, education inequality, and rural development. She is a member of the Monetary Policy Board of the Central Bank of Mongolia; and a member of the Research Council for Social Science with the Ministry of Education and Science in Mongolia. Previously, she collaborated with the United Nations Research Institute for Social Development (UNRISD) on the project Mobilizing Revenues from Extractive Industries: Protecting and Promoting Children’s Rights and Well-Being in Resource-Rich Countries, as part of the research team for Mongolia.

As a Visiting Scholar, Otgo developed the curriculum for a course Gender Analysis in Economics, to be offered as part of the masters program for Economics at the National University of Mongolia. She also began a project that aims to translate a textbook on the importance of gender analysis in economics into Mongolian language. Currently, Otgo is working on a joint research project with Professor Mieke Meurs and Amarjargal Amartuvshin (PGAE Visiting Scholar 2013) on bargaining in herding households.

Samanmala Dorabawila is a Senior Lecturer in Economics at the University of Peradeniya in Sri Lanka. She has a Ph.D. in Economics from Clark University. Her research includes analyses of Sri Lankan’s labor market, care work, health economics, and development economics.

As a PGAE Visiting Scholar, Samanmala worked to develop curricula course on Gender Analysis in Macroeconomics and Gender Analysis in Microeconomics to be offered for students enrolled in Masters in Economics (MA)/M.Phil in Economics/Masters in Applied Economics and Masters in Development Practice, through the Post Graduate Institute of Humanities and Social Sciences (PGIHS) at the University of Peradeniya.

Yady Marcela Barrero Amórtegui has a Ph.D. in Economics from the University of La Universidad de los Andes in Bogotá, Colombia; and a Master’s Degree in Economics from the University of Antioquia in Medellín, Antioquia, Colombia. She has authored multiple research papers analyzing Colombia’s agricultural structures, including her doctoral research focusing on gender analysis and the sustainable use of natural resources.

As a PGAE Visiting Scholar, Yady developed a course curriculum on Gender Roles in the Economy, to be presented to the Department of Economics at the University of Antioquia in Medellín, where she will be joining as a Professor of Economics.

Dileni Gunewardena is Professor of Economics at the University of Peradeniya, Sri Lanka and has a Ph.D. in economics is from American University. Her research includes empirical analyses of poverty, child nutrition, and gender and ethnic wage inequality. She is the author of a book on Poverty Measurement, several chapters in books, and numerous journal articles. She contributed to Sri Lanka’s first poverty assessment as a consultant with the World Bank’s Development Economics Research Group in the 1990s and has taught in the World Bank Institute’s South Asia Region Workshops.

As a PGAE Visiting Scholar, Dileni produced a research paper, along with co-authors Elizabeth King (The Brookings Institution) and Alexandra Valerio (World Bank), on the gender differences in labor market returns to schooling and skills in middle income countries. Currently, she is also leading the efforts in establishing a Gender Analysis in Economics program at the Post Graduate Institute of Humanities and Social Sciences (PGIHS) of the University of Peradeniya.

Ana María Tribín-Uribe is a Researcher at the Central Bank of Colombia – Banco de la Republica. She has a Ph.D. in Economics from Brown University and a Master’s Degree in Economics from Pontificia Universidad Javeriana (Colombia). Her research focuses on gender economics, development economics, development, political economy, labor economics and behavioral economics. She is the author of several studies related to gender and economics, including her research examining the impact of Colombia’s maternity leave policy on female labor force participation.

As a PGAE Visiting Scholar, Ana María advanced her historical book project on women in Colombia and continues to work with Professors Maria Floro and Mieke Meurs in undertaking a project that aims to develop priority areas for lawmakers in developing public policies. Recently, Ana María was appointed the President’s High Commissioner for Women’s Equality in Colombia.

Nata Duvvury is Senior Lecturer and Co-Director at the Center for Global Women’s Studies and Leader of Gender and Public Policy Cluster in the Whitaker Institute at National University of Ireland, Galway. Dr. Nata Duvvury is an international development expert with more than 25 years of experience in gender, development and empowerment. Her work includes research and advocacy on gender based violence, women’s property rights and HIV and AIDS in a variety of settings including conflict and post-conflict contexts.  

Nata Duvvury visited as a PGAE Fulbright Scholar in 2014 to work on empirical measures of violence against women. Currently, Nata Duvvury is Principal Investigator of a 3-year project examining the economic and social costs of Violence against women and girls (VAWG) that involves surveys and interviews in Sudan, Pakistan and Ghana. Also serving on the Technical Advisory Group of the project is PGAE founding co-director Maria Floro.

Margarita Khegai is a Professor of Economics at the Tajikistan Russian-Tajik Slavic University.

Maigul was a PGAE Visiting Scholar from the Tajikistan Russian-Tajik Slavic University from 2011 – 2012, supported by the Core Fulbright Visiting Scholar Program. As a Visiting Scholar, Margarita investigated gender issues in Tajikistan’s labor market focusing on state policies, legal framework, civil society and traditions.

Care Work and the Economy

The Care Work and the Economy project, funded by the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation and the Open Society Foundations, and concluded in 2022, worked to better understand, capture, and model women and men's contributions to care provisioning (for children, the sick and disabled, and the elderly) in order to promote gender-aware economic and social policies that foster inclusive growth and gender equality. 

Fred and Barbara Bergmann Fund

The Fred and Barbara Bergmann award is given to a promising graduate student to support gender research in economics. To donate to the fund, please follow the following instructions:

  • Visit our donation webpage
  • Choose your donation type and amount
  • Click "Funds I Choose"
  • Scroll down to "Support a Fund Not Listed" , check the box
    and write in “Barbara Bergmann Graduate Fellowship for Gender Economics Fund”.

Donations can be also sent to  Dr. Mieke Meurs at mmeurs@american.edu.