Hidden female figures in the organisation for European economic co-operation, and the reconstruction of Europe after WWII
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 21604654 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Rebeca Gomez Betancourt (0000-0002-5238-6705, University of Lyon, Lyon, France), Giulia Zacchia (0000-0002-0151-9184, Sapienza University of Rome, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2023 |
| Volume | 30 |
| Issue | 6 |
| Pages | 1170-1191 |
| Publication date | 2023-11-02 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | European Journal of the History of Economic Thought (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0967-2567 • E-ISSN: 1469-5936 |
| Publisher | Informa UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1080/09672567.2023.2239969 |
| OpenAlex | W4385345134 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 2 |
| References cited | 37 |
The study of female economists during the post-World War II reconstruction of Western Europe is as yet unresearched. A small but substantial collection of publications discusses the role of male economists within the European institutions created after World War II. However, none of them analyzes contributions made by female economists. This paper aims to shed some light on female economists who participated in the reconstruction of Europe through their work in the Organisation for European Economic Co-operation (OEEC), which was created by the Marshall Plan following the Conference of Sixteen (Conference for European Economic Co-operation). Firstly, we searched for names of female economists who served the institution, hoping that some relevant hidden female figures in the OEEC would resurface. Secondly, through oral history archives and personal documents, we reconstructed the biographies of three female economists who contributed, in different ways, to the activities of the OEEC: Miriam Camp, Florence Kirlin, and Vera Cao Pinna. By comparing these three figures, in terms of their educational and social backgrounds, their narrative, as well as their connections with international networks of experts, we defined their similarities and differences in order to identify the main characteristics that allowed them, even if at different levels and with different roles, to participate in international diplomacy and technical support deployed in the construction and diffusion of the idea of the peaceful, united, and prosperous Europe which we live in today. Tracing back the presence of women in OEEC, this article aims to bring some light on: what did being a woman economist entails in the after WWII in the newborn European institutions and what did it mean in terms of the kind of work and experience a woman could be doing within the process of professionalisation of the economics discipline in the international organisations. We are interested in describing the experiences and self-perceptions of women economists working in male dominated international institutions. Female international thinkers and experts, well known in their own time, were largely overlooked and neglected by scholars, politics, and international history later
Diplomacy · Economic history · Economics · Economy · Institution · Literature · Narrative · Political science · Politics · Social science · Sociology · World War II · Engineering · French Historical and Cultural Studies · Historical Education Studies Worldwide · Historical Gender and Feminism Studies · History · Law
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| Unique citing works | 2 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 2 |
| Citation span | 2026 - 2026 (1) |
| Citation velocity | current |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 2 |