‘It’s pretty bad’: Bank of England top official on the lack of female economics students

Clare Lombardelli says economics is ‘the best subject to understand why things are the way they are’. Photograph: Bloomberg/Getty Images

Economics has an image problem, says Clare Lombardelli, a deputy governor at the Bank of England.

With few children from poorer backgrounds studying the subject and only a small proportion of women pursuing it to undergraduate level, the profession is heavily weighted towards men from well-to-do backgrounds.