Economics has long been misperceived as a discipline for men, with the national enrolment in the subject at secondary level still showing a big gender divide (RBA, 2021). To clear this misperception and inform our current students of the broad study and career options in the field of economics, two BGGS alumnae, Chelsea Perkins (2020) and Jennifer Zhang (2017), who are currently studying an Advanced Economics and Finance Bachelor’s degree and Honours degree respectively at The University of Queensland, visited the School in the last week of Term 2 and gave an informative Q&A session to aspiring students from Years 10 to 12.
During the session, Jennifer and Chelsea not only told their personal stories about choosing the subject but also shared a wealth of information about scholarships and internship opportunities for girls doing their degree. Jennifer will start her job in JP Morgan Sydney next year, and Chelsea has travelled to the London School of Economics for her summer school program. It gives us great pride to have such role models for girls aspiring to study economics, and we wish Jennifer and Chelsea a bright future.
Dr Sam Peng
Head of Economics
Watch the full session recording below.
References
RBA. (2021). What Is Driving Participation and Diversity Trends in Economics? A Survey of High School Students. https://www.rba.gov.au/publications/rdp/2021/pdf/rdp2021-06.pdf
Left to right: Jennifer Zhang (2017); Rainbow Yu (11W); Jessica Wacker (11E); Rose Baumgart (11H); Tia Fitzpatrick (12M); Emma Armitage-Ho (12R); Xinyun (May) Wu (11H); Angeline Hsu (11G;) and Chelsea Perkins (2020)
