Focus on Diversity and Underrepresentation in Mathematics

July 8, 2004

PROVIDENCE, RI: Just 5 percent of mathematics doctorates going to U.S. citizens and permanent residents in the past ten years went to people who are Black, Hispanic, or Native American---even though those three groups make up one-quarter of the country's population. Women received 26 percent of all doctorates in mathematics awarded between 1995 and 2003---which is good news compared to the 17 percent rate in the 1980s.

The August 2004 issue of the Notices of the American Mathematical Society focuses on diversity and underrepresentation in the mathematics profession. Three articles explore this theme:

o Has the Women-in-Mathematics Problem been Solved?, by Allyn Jackson, Senior Writer, Notices of the AMS
o Women in Academia: Are We Asking the Right Questions?, by Carolyn Gordon, Dartmouth College, and Barbara Keyfitz, University of Houston and the Fields Institute
o Doctorate Degrees in Mathematics Earned by Blacks, Hispanics/Latinos and Native Americans: A Look at the Numbers, by Herbert A. Medina, Loyola Marymount University

Fifteen or twenty years ago, the issue of women in mathematics was a hot topic in the mathematical community. Has it cooled off today? Jackson's article, which contains special data on which math departments produce the most women doctorates, looks at how and why attitudes toward the women-in-math issue have shifted. "The perception is that if one complains---'whines' is the word often used---about problems women face, 'then you are doing it to get something you don't deserve rather than in order to address actual problems,'" said one young woman mathematician quoted in the article. "Young women mathematicians feel pressure not to be seen as `whiners'. Part of this pressure may result from the common assumption that women have advantages in mathematics that men do not have," such as special programs aimed at helping women succeed in mathematics, or the desire of many mathematics departments to increase the number of women faculty.

The article by Gordon and Keyfitz comments on a recent study, "A National Analysis of Diversity in Science and Engineering Faculties at Research Universities," by Donna J. Nelson and Diana C. Rogers. Gordon and Keyfitz compare the Nelson-Rogers study with the data collected in the Annual Survey conducted by the AMS and three other mathematical societies: "Consistent with the Nelson-Rogers study, the Annual Survey figures for the percentage of women among new Ph.D.s in 2002 was 31% from all doctorate-granting institutions and 24% from the Group I institutions [the top 48 mathematics departments in the nation]. Thus, in the Group I institutions we see an even higher rate of attrition from Ph.D. to tenure-track than the already discouraging rate reported in the Nelson-Rogers study."

The Nelson-Rogers study points out that women are not applying for tenure-track positions at top institutions at a rate one would expect, given the number of women getting doctorates. Gordon and Keyfitz offer one possible explanation: "A recent survey of members of the Association for Women in Mathematics (AWM) suggests one factor (of many possible factors) that may discourage women from entering the tenure track: over 40 percent of the respondents identified flexibility in the tenure clock to allow for a better balance between career and childcare responsibilities as the issue that they would most like the AWM to address. (The question was not multiple choice!)"

Examining data from the National Science Foundation and the U.S. Census, Medina explores the underrepresentation of certain groups in mathematics and makes some suggestions for change. "[U]nless we address the underrepresentation issue," Medina warns, "the demographic shifts that the nation will undergo during this century almost certainly will contribute dramatically to our dependence on foreign mathematical talent."

The August 2004 issue of Notices of the American Mathematical Society includes these articles.

Links to other resources:
Annual Survey of the Mathematical Sciences
Association for Women in Mathematics (AWM)
10th Annual Conference for African-American Researchers in the Mathematical Sciences, held June 2004, Berkeley
National Association of Mathematicians (NAM, organization for African-American mathematicians)
Society for the Advancement of Chicanos and Native Americans in Science (SACNAS)

Contact:
Annette Emerson or Mike Breen, Public Awareness Officers
American Mathematical Society
201 Charles Street
Providence, RI 02904
Tel: 401-455-4000; Fax: 401-331-3842; Email: paoffice@ams.org

Founded in 1888 to further mathematical research and scholarship, the 29,000-member American Mathematical Society fulfills its mission through programs and services that promote mathematical research and its uses, strengthen mathematical education, and foster awareness and appreciation of mathematics and its connections to other disciplines and to everyday life.