Economics remains among the most male-dominated of the social sciences, and feminists argue that changing its scope and methods is needed to improve its research. This is because its masculine bias prevents it from being as objective as it should be, according to Julie Nelson, assistant professor of economics at UC Davis. She is co-author of the new book "Beyond Economic Man: Feminist Theory and Economics." "Part of the cause of womens' under-representation in economics could be the general neglect of topics of particular interest to women, as well as the way they see themselves portrayed when they take undergraduate economic courses," says Nelson. "For instance, more than half of the scholarly textbooks used in introductory college courses make no mention of the rise in the women's labor force, and several of the books fail to note that measures of national output exclude housework." If the feminist critique takes hold, economics may well become less biased and more helpful in addressing policy questions, according to Nelson.