27/07/2019

At IMPA, the opening of the mathematics conference fills the auditorium.

One year after the event that brought together mathematicians from all over the world in Rio de Janeiro, the World Meeting for Women in Mathematics (WM)², students and researchers in the field filled the main auditorium of IMPA, this Saturday (27), for the opening of the first edition of the Brazilian Meeting of Women Mathematicians.

Carolina Araujo, coordinator of the event's Organizing Committee and researcher at IMPA, celebrated the participation of approximately 500 registered attendees and noted that the idea of holding a national meeting arose precisely during (WM)², on July 31, 2018. According to her, the intention, materialized in this weekend of activities at IMPA, is the result of the mobilization of local and national networks of women mathematicians.

“Several events have been taking place since 2016, proving the need to discuss the gender disparity in our mathematical community,” said Carolina, highlighting May 12th, Women in Mathematics Day. The date was created during the 2018 International Congress of Mathematicians (ICM) in honor of the birth of Maryam Mirzakhani (1977-2017), the only woman to win the Fields Medal. This year, 109 events were held on that date in 31 countries, 12 of them in Brazil.

Pesquisadora do IMPA, Carolina coordenou a Comissão Organizadora do Encontro

Coordinator of the event's Scientific Committee, Celina Herrera de Figueiredo (Coppe/UFRJ), said that preparing for the Meeting was practically like a pregnancy. "Nine incredible months, full of learning and gratitude," she said, highlighting that during this period, the topic of women in science was debated in institutions such as Cefet, Firjan, and UFRJ, and women were elected, for the first time, to relevant positions in the field, such as Eliete Bouskela, the first scientific director of Faperj; and Denise Pires de Carvalho, the first female rector of UFRJ.

In Celina's opinion, the program of the Brazilian Meeting of Women Mathematicians reflects the participation, engagement, and attention given to inclusion.

“The choice of speakers celebrates diversity and also commemorates the historic end of a ten-year drought at the Brazilian Academy of Sciences with the induction of two mathematicians and one engineer,” she said. She also highlighted that the event promotes the meeting of three senior speakers and 10 young mathematicians. “The absence of semi-senior speakers is a warning sign. There is much to celebrate, but much more to do,” she concluded.

The Director-General of IMPA, Marcelo Viana, said that it is an honor for the Institute to have collaborated in organizing the Brazilian Meeting of Women Mathematicians. Viana recounted that the first time he heard about the issue of gender in the field was in 1990, during the ICM in Kyoto, Japan.

“For many, myself included, it was a non-existent issue. We have all evolved, some more than others, and, above all, we have come to understand, I have come to understand, that the issues surrounding gender balance and the presence of women in mathematics are much more subtle than we initially thought,” she stated, considering that they concern and also transcend the academic environment.

Carolina, Marcelo, Celina e Christina na mesa de abertura do evento

Also present at the opening panel, IME/USP researcher Christina Brech gave a retrospective of the women mathematicians' movement in Brazil, citing the organization of the Paulista Meeting of Women Mathematicians in 2016, and highlighted the Mathematics, a Feminine Noun, Debate Cycle, inaugurated at IMPA during the 31st Brazilian Mathematics Colloquium in 2017.

“We wanted men and women to become aware of the aspects that the gender issue in mathematics encompasses,” she said, noting that the Cycle opened up space to talk about the topic, inspired women to engage in the issue, and connected women, weaving a Brazilian network of women mathematicians. Around 70 women from 15 universities across the five regions of the country participated as panelists or organizers, according to her.

Among the initiatives that emerged during this period, Christina cited, for example, the creation of the Gender Commission of the Brazilian Mathematical Society (SMB) and the Brazilian Society of Applied and Computational Mathematics (SBMAC). “The achievements and initiatives are all important, and they are as diverse as we, women mathematicians, are. In my ideal world, this sentiment would be echoed,” she observed, highlighting that “a fundamental achievement is being able to talk about this topic.”

On behalf of Danielle Nunes, from L'Oréal Brazil, who was unable to attend the event, Carolina spoke about the "For Women in Science" program, whose official video was shown during the opening. The company sponsors the Meeting, which also has the support of IMPA, Capes, SBM, Fapesp, and CNPq.

At the end of the ceremony, Carolina invited the audience to visit the exhibition "A Unique Perspective: Contributions of Women to Brazilian Mathematics," which tells the story of female researchers who contributed to the development of the discipline in the country. Many of them were present and were applauded during the opening.

Enthusiasm

Immediately after the ceremony, the audience attended the lecture "Counting problems and generating functions" by Ragni Piene, from the University of Oslo, Norway, the first woman to participate in the Executive Committee of the International Mathematical Union (IMU). Regarding the meeting, the researcher said she was amazed by the number of participants.

Ragni Piene, da Universidade de Oslo: “Fantástico ter aqui pessoas de todo o Brasil”

“It shows enthusiasm for the topic. I heard that they are people from all over Brazil, which is fantastic, after all, it's a huge country with long distances. It really is a great effort to be here. All these women together is a great opportunity for scientific collaborations, friendships, and networking. I also thought the presentation by the three young mathematicians was excellent. Very confident. This is very good for the future of Brazilian mathematics.”

Until tomorrow, participants will have an intense schedule. In addition to special lectures and presentations by young researchers, there will be space for debates and reflections in roundtables on diversity in science and motherhood and career.

This Sunday, in addition to the launch of two books about mathematics written by female mathematicians, there will be a mentoring session discussing some of the challenges of the career and how to overcome them. During the planning of the activity, it was decided to create a platform for women mathematicians in Brazil, a space for projects, events, and opportunities. The name of the page will be chosen by the participants by tomorrow.

The meeting will conclude with the Overview Session, in which initiatives aimed at promoting inclusion and diversity in science will be presented.