Diane Elson is Emeritus Professor in the Department of Sociology at the University of Essex. She is chair of the UK Women's Budget Group, a voluntary network of researchers, trade unionists and feminist activists that analyses the impact of UK government budgets on gender equality and low income women. In addition, she advises UN Women and is a member of the UN Committee for Development Policy and a Visiting Professor at the Women in Scotland's Economy Research Centre at Glasgow Caledonian University.