Women in Mathematics

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I'd be surprised if there was an equal amount of female mathematicians as male mathematicians in virtually any country in the world. Certainly the disparity continues on from North America into Europe, at the very least. I'm not sure about China, but again I'd be surprised.

Maybe, but not by all that much I would have thought. I've seen and met mathematicians from a wide variety of European backgrounds and only a small minority are women. Thus it seems to me to be inaccurate to write off the disparity as being a "US cultural phenomenon"..

I don't know if you're an American, Hector, but it definitely is cultural. Women have not been expected to perform well in mathematics - ever. It's been a good-'ol-boys club that women in the US are really just breaking into. There have to be role models, and it takes time to generate a substantive number to influence society. Women in China, Russian, Turkey, Korea and many other places, expect women to be high achievers. Unless parents are aware of the value of a math education here in the US, it's just not going to happen if left up the the kids. It's too easy to take simple subjects that don't require rigor, and that are seen as socially acceptable. Stupidity and ignorance are still in.

http://web.mit.edu/science/newsletters/sos_fall2008.pdf

You'll note in the MIT newsletter that the first female biology faculty member was not appointed until 1967. Do you realize how recent that is? There will be more and more female mathematicians as time goes by. Probably not so much here, but elsewhere. Nonetheless, just look at all the women in hard sciences there at MIT. The cultural change is happening.

You may not have met them personally, but they are there. busy working and studying,

Biology probably plays a role, but considering how much sweat equity is required for a grad degree in any field I think it's way more nurture than nature. Here's an interesting read. IME there were only a few more male than female math grad students, but the male to female faculty ratio was nearly ten to one, probably due to the huge gender gap in the past.

There is a lot of women in the accounting schools, I find. In my accounting program at my school, there is around 200 women and 100 men. Close enough to mathematics but it's also management.

I'm heartbroken over the unfair advantage that men in our society have. My talents for mathematics were ignored and taken for granted by adults in my life growing up. I was also traumatised as a kid and never got to develop an intensity for anything, that I now crave, and have craved for a long time. Special interests in mathematics for a female with AS are a pure luxury, and to be a female with AS and pursue the kind of mathematics that you want and achieve a higher order profession is like a miracle that I'm waiting to witness on Sunday. I'm not generally a male basher, but the fact is, men disallow women from achievement of anything outside of a family at large. Women have to work around men to do the same things that everyone steps back and allows men to do freely. The females natural nurturing instincts have been exploited to show mothering as a dominant interest of women. Not all women really like mathematics or science, so it is acceptable to assume that nothing in these realms has been unfairly withheld from some, but the numbers should at least be even, as with the number of women and men with AS. UNFAIR.

There's nothing stopping all the many and myriad women who are in my school's math (ed) major from pursuing it seriously except that they aren't serious. One doesn't get someplace because anyone gives a s**t; you get someplace by pulling yourself up by your own bootstraps.

Uncle Fnord:
"Now, for example, take this equation, (x^2+3x+5)/(x(x+1)), if you........"

Nieces:
"Did you know, um, like, that Mary was, like, um still seeing Mike?..."

They'll need a female to do the 'splainin' at this point. Too far gone in the system as it is. And who wants to listen to Uncle Nerdy?