Last December, the ICTP hosted the 8th General Meeting of European Women in Mathematics. The gathering attracted more than 100 women from 30 different countries worldwide. Emilia Mezzetti, who served as the chief organizer, examines the plight of women within the profession today.

Women Mathematicians
Count on Brighter Future

Feminine mathematics? The term sounds preposterous. As every school child knows two plus two is four. From the simplest calculations to the most complex equations, the unbending rules of mathematics conform to laws of nature that reach well beyond differences in gender.

Gender nonetheless has played an important role in mathematics when it comes to some critical factors--most notably, hiring and promotions. And that's why women have begun to join together in organizations like European Women in Mathematics (EWM). Their goal is to recalibrate the profession's disturbing demographics so that university mathematics departments become as gender-free as the research findings of their faculty members.

These numbers may surprise you. In Denmark, just 2 percent of all mathematicians teaching in universities are women; in Germany, it's 3 percent; in the United Kingdom, 7 percent. Among Mediterranean countries, the situation is better but by no means satisfactory. In Greece, nearly a quarter of all math professors are women; in Italy, it's 35 percent. Across Europe, when it comes to math professors, only Portugal has a 50-50 gender split. And this dismal picture becomes even worse when calculating the number of women serving as department heads or deans.

The roots of the EWM reside in discussions that took place among a small group of European women during the 1986 International Congress of Mathematicians at the University of California in Berkeley. These women took their cues from the Association for Women in Mathematics, which had been a driving force in mathematics departments in the United States over the previous decade. After several additional years of informal discussions, the EWM was formed in 1993.

EWM's constitution, signed in Helsinki, outlines the organization's objectives:

- To encourage women to study mathematics, especially women interested in receiving advanced university degrees.

- To provide opportunities for women mathematicians to meet and discuss their research and career aspirations and concerns.

- To cooperate with other groups that have similar goals.

The small number of women in university mathematics departments, especially in northern European countries, leads to another problem: women who are fortunate enough to have university teaching jobs often feel isolated from their colleagues and uncomfortable in their male-dominated work environments. Women mathematicians in the developing world, moreover, must also contend with poor working conditions and inadequate resources--problems they unfortunately share with their male counterparts in these regions.

Such difficulties have discouraged many women from entering the field of mathematics in the first place. At the same time, a disturbing number of women have left the profession even after receiving advanced degrees.

So what's to be done? How can we begin to address the status of women in mathematics in ways that make the discipline more inviting to women while simultaneously protecting its deeply rooted dedication to excellence?

This much must be acknowledged. The problem has existed for a long time and there's no reason to think that it will be overcome in a year or two. Solutions will require changes in the current thinking that often takes place within math departments and a willingness among women who are interested in mathematics to stay the course despite the adversities they face.

Some positive steps have been taken. The EWM, for example, has created a video, Women and Mathematics Across Cultures, which examines the plight of women mathematicians in Europe, the United States, and Latin America. The German government has appointed a "women math commissioner" who serves as an advocate for women's issues in university math departments across the country.

Meanwhile, Sweden and Norway have set aside faculty positions that are opened solely to women. And organizations like EWM and others have launched "mentoring" programs designed to encourage girls who display talent in mathematics at a young age not to drift into other fields that may seem friendlier and more inviting.

As discussed extensively at the EWM meeting in Trieste, women mathematicians--like professional women in other fields--are struggling to balance several full-time commitments while seeking to overcome a host of unrealistic expectations that society has imposed on them. The responsibilities of family, especially if a woman chooses to have children, likely will interfere with a woman's career at critical moments. Today, time "lost" to child-rearing can rarely be made up in the work place. As a result, women are often placed at a permanent disadvantage in their efforts to climb the career ladder.

Universities could make significant contributions to closing the gender gap in mathematics and other disciplines by reforming their systems to ensure that women employed in their institutions are not penalised for having children. Such reforms might also have important positive impacts on nations now experiencing low--indeed negative--birthrights, a demographic trend now common in several European countries.

Women mathematicians who are well established in their careers also have a responsibility to their profession in general and their younger colleagues in particular. These women should not only be willing to actively discuss the status of women mathematicians with the media but should personally encourage and inspire young women in their own countries who are interested in mathematics. The creation of help centres, scholarships and networks, designed specifically to assist young women, could have an enormous impact in increasing the number of women who enter and remain in the field of mathematics. Such initiatives, however, are likely never to get off the ground unless women themselves take the lead.

As for EWM, it will continue to promote the cause of women in mathematics through newsletters, workshops and conferences. Over the next few years, it will also seek to secure additional funding from foundations, which will help EWM to become more effective and more visible. At the same time, EWM will become more active in Eastern Europe, which has a large contingent of women mathematicians who are eager to share their experiences with their colleagues in the West. The next general meeting of the EWM will take place in Hannover, Germany, in late 1999.

Is there such a thing as feminine mathematics? Of course not. But is there a gender crisis within the profession? Unfortunately, the answer is yes.

Solving this crisis is not only important for young women who would like to pursue careers in math, it is critical to the overall profession as well. How can any discipline, which is dedicated to excellence, achieve that goal while discriminating against 50 percent of the population? And how can a field that is having difficulty attracting new students hope to remain vital without appealing to young women as well as young men?

For all of these reasons, organizations like EWM are working not only for women but for the entire mathematics profession. Their success will help ensure that teaching and research in mathematics retains a high level of excellence in the future and that all youngsters--male and female alike--have an opportunity to develop their talents to the fullest extent possible.

Emilia Mezzetti
Professor of mathematics at the University of Trieste.

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