The resources listed on this page have been chosen for their relevance to the topics and questions explored by feminist economics. The sites offer information generated by government agencies, international organizations, advocacy groups, institutes, and nonprofit organizations. Information resources include full-texts of reports and analyses, data and statistics, and current news reports.

Finding Books

Wellesley College Catalog - Use the Library catalog to find books and other materials (journal titles, NOT journal articles) we have here at Wellesley. Remember to start with "keyword" if you are beginning to research a topic then, when you find something useful, see what subject headings are listed. You can then use the subject headings to find more titles. Try the following subject headings:

• feminist economics
• women economic conditions
• women employment
• women in development
• women [country name] economic conditions

WorldCat - Use WorldCat to find books and other materials not at Wellesley. Use the suggestions listed above. If you find a book you want that Wellesley does not own, you can use the ILL link within WorldCat to request the book.

Finding Journal Articles:

Feminist Economics. Clapp HQ1381 .F46, 1995 (vol. 1) -
This journal is indexed in EconLit and SocAbs.

The following databases provide either full-text articles or citations (information about when and where the article was published). Once you have a citation for an article, use the Find It! @ Wellesleylink from each citation to search one or more electronic journal sources through the Wellesley College Library Catalog. Use the name of the journal as the title and make sure you look at the dates covered carefully! If Wellesley does not own the article, you can request it via Interlibrary Loan (ILL).

EconLit is the electronic bibliographic database of the American Economic Association. This database indexes books over 60 pages, articles in journals (1969+), chapters in books, conference proceedings, dissertations (1987+), book reviews (9/1994+) and selected working papers (1984+).

NBER Working Papers - full text of working papers in all aspects of economics from Nov. 1994+. Searchable by topic.
You can browse by JEL class: Try J7, Discrimination.

Science Direct - articles in over 750 science and social science/behavioral science journals; has a good selection of economics journals under the category "Economics, Econometrics, and Finance". Full text from 1995+. You can browse or search.

Web of Science (and Social Science) - (1965+) Interdisciplinary subject searching of scholarly articles in the social, physical, and life sciences. Search for articles that cite known journal articles or books.

Alt-Press Watch - 100% full text database of the newspapers, magazines and journals of the alternative and independent press. Use this for alternative viewpoints. 1995 onward.

Women's Studies International - Indexes journal articles and books on women's studies, feminism, and gender studies, 1972 to present

GenderWatch - articles on women's social, religious & political issues. Full text from 1974+.

JSTOR - An electronic archive of backfiles of journals, including economics, demography, sociology, and political science.

Internet Sources

Women's Economic Position

• International Association for Feminist Economics - Advances feminist inquiry into economic issues and promotes teaching and dialogue. Site includes course syllabi, teaching resources, and conference proceedings.
• Institute for Women's Policy Research - Promotes policy relevant research on women's lives. Site includes full-texts of research reports and charts ranking states on various indicators of women's status.
• Feminist Majority Foundation
• Committee on the Status of Women in the Economics Profession (CSWEP) - an arm of the American Economic Association, represents womens' points of view in the committee work of the AEA and monitors the progress of women within the profession.
• United for a Fair Economy - " raises awareness that concentrated wealth and power undermine the economy, corrupt democracy, deepen the racial divide, and tear communities apart. We support and help build social movements for greater equality"

• Coalition of Labor Union Women - America's only national organization for union women.
• The Women's Bureau at the Department of Labor - Provides data and statistics on women's occupations and earnings and other work-related topics.
• Reports from the Glass Ceiling Commission [Catherwood Library, Cornell University] - Information and documents on initiatives for breaking the glass ceiling for women and minorities in the US. (Some sections of the document are in Adobe Acrobat [.pdf] format).
• The National Organization for Women - Variety of background and issue information on economic equity.
• Inequality.org - a nonprofit organization of journalists, writers, and researchers whose aim is to circulate information and ideas that are not widely covered in the media.

Work & Family

• National Partnership for Women & Families [formerly the Women's Defense Fund] - Sponsored by an advocacy and research group, this site offers reports and information on work and family leave, affirmative action, child support, and women's health.
• Work, Family, Disabilities, and Economic Security from the National Research Center for Women and Families - nonprofit, nonpartisan organization that is dedicated to improving the lives of adults and children. Links to publications on social security, welfare reform, and work and family.
• Families and Children and Administration for Children and Families [U.S. Dept. of Health and Human Services]

Poverty & Economic Development

• Association for Women's Rights in Development - "an international membership organization connecting, informing and mobilizing people and organizations committed to achieving gender equality, sustainable development and women's human rights".
• UNIFEM: UN Development Fund for Women - Background information, reports from seminars and workshops, and current awareness on the feminization of poverty, economic development, and programs for strengthening women's economic capacity.
• WomenWatch - Complementing UNIFEM, this site provides reports on global conferences along with statistical data and indicators of the status of women (population, earnings, literacy, and employment).
• Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action - Issued by the UN's Fourth World Conference on Women, the Platform includes economic empowerment of women on its agenda.
• Interagency Council on Women - Reports and data from the US government agencies charged with assessing American efforts to meet the Platform for Action adopted at the United Nations Fourth World Conference on Women. NOTE: information is from prior to 2001.
• GenderNet from the World Bank - seeks to enhance women's participation in economic development.
• Gender Action - "mission is to promote women's rights and gender equality and ensure women and men equally participate in and benefit from Financial Institution (FI) investments in developing countries".

Data

You may find these books useful.
     American Women: Who They Are & How They Live. Clapp Ref HQ 1421 A486 1997 and 2002.
     Statistical Handbook on Women in America. Clapp Ref HQ 1420 T34 1991 and 1996.

Notes to remember:

• Data can be difficult to compare across countries due to wide variety in years available and different methods of tabulation.
• If you are comparing data, make sure your units of measurement are consistent.
• Make sure you know how your variable is being defined and used.
• Detailed racial categories can only be found in the 2000 Census.

United States

• Census 2000 data - many variables (including types of families, income, education) available by ]detailed racial caetgories, including detailed Asian groups; snapshot in time as of April 2000. [Choose Census 2000 Summary File 4.] For data after 2000, use the American Community Survey.
• Households and Families data from the Current Population Survey. - Available for broad racial categories only.
  
• Income tables and Historical Income Tables, by sex and race, dates vary
• Tables of Income by Detailed Socioeconomic Characteristics
• Job Patterns for Minorities and Women in Private Industry
• Census 2000 EEOC Data Tool - statistics for detailed occupations, by sex and by race [broad racial categories only]
  Special reports from the EEOC (Equal Employment Opportunity Commission) - one report is on Women of Color: Their Employment in the Private Sector. This report contains only informational numbers and percents, not prepared tables.
• Women Workers [U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics]
• Birth Rate by broad racial categories
• Maternity Leave and Employment Patterns [Census Bureau]
• Divorce Rate (1989 and 1990) [see page 9; racial categories are more difficult, see page 21-23]. Later data; 1987-1998 available in microfiche.
• Poverty (current) and Previous Years
• National Committee on Pay Equity - wage gap over time.
• Equal Pay [AFL-CIO]
• Women in Management and Women's Earnings [GAO]

Time Use Data (contains time spent doing household chores)

• American Time Use Survey - Begun by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics in January 2003.
• Multinational Time Use Survey
• National Survey of Households and Families - data from 2001 only available online in SPSS. For 2008, click here. UMich Press Release of 3/12/02 and 3/25/02. Tables from the 1987-88 survey available in Statistical Handbook on the American Family Clapp Ref HQ 536 S727 1992; tables from the 1993-94 wave available in Statistical Handbook on the American Family Clapp Ref HQ 536 S727 1999. For earlier numbers, see Time of Life: The Surprising Way Americans Use Their Time, Chapter 6, Clapp HD 4904.6 R624 1997.
• United Nations Statistics Division - for international time use surveys

Specialized International Sources

• LABORSTA - view and extract data from the International Labour Organisation Bureau of Statistics. View tables as .html or download as .csv
       EAPEP data = labor force participation by gender
       SEGREGAT data = employment by sex and detailed occupation; data is not yearly
       October Inquiry data = wages by detailed occupation; data is in country currency
• Poverty
• Statistics and Indicators on Women and Men [United Nations]
• UNECE Gender Statistics Database
• Women and Men in OECD Countries - relative positions of women and men in OECD countries in such areas as population, education, labour markets, political and economic power, health and social issues

General International Sources

• International Data Base [U.S. Census Bureau]
• GenderStats from the World Bank. Choose a country or a region, then choose a theme. Or try World Development Indicators
• UNData

How to Cite What You Find:

• For full-text articles you find in an electronic database, look within the database for a link to citing articles. In Lexis/Nexis Academic, look under "Help".
• Look in Research Guide Citing Sources
• Publication manual of the American Psychological Association (APA Style) Clapp Ref BF 76.7 .P83 2001
• MLA style manual Clapp Ref PN 147 .G444 2008
  

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