IMPA researcher writes about mathematics and gender.

Did you know that female participation in mathematical scientific research in Brazil does not reach 25%? In an article for the magazine "Ciência & Cultura", from the Brazilian Society for the Advancement of Science (SBPC) – which dedicates the articles section of its most recent edition to mathematics – IMPA researcher Carolina Araujo addresses the gender perspective in the field and highlights that the topic will be discussed during the "World Meeting for Women in Mathematics" (WM)², to be held on July 31st in Rio.

Read the full text below:

In June 2017, the Brazilian Academy of Sciences hosted a symposium on gender issues in global scientific research, based on a recent study produced by Elsevier [1]. According to the study, Brazil and Portugal lead the ranking of female participation in scientific production among the twelve countries analyzed, with approximately 49% of scientists being women in the five-year period 2011-2015. This statistic, which comes as good news for the Brazilian scientific community, concerns all areas of knowledge. The scenario in the area of exact sciences, technology, engineering and mathematics (Cetem) is not so encouraging. The same Elsevier study shows that, in the five-year period 2011-2015, female participation in mathematical scientific research in Brazil does not reach 25%.

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Figures from CAPES (Coordination for the Improvement of Higher Education Personnel), CNPq (National Council for Scientific and Technological Development) and MEC (Ministry of Education) show that less than 45% of those entering undergraduate mathematics courses in Brazil are women, and this percentage decreases as one climbs the scientific career ladder [2]. Among CNPq research productivity grant holders in mathematics, women do not reach 15%. Statistics from the last Brazilian Mathematics Colloquium – the most important scientific meeting of the Brazilian mathematical community, held biennially since 1957 – confirm this scenario: of the 888 participants in the 2017 edition of the colloquium, 23.5% were women, while only 16.8% of the lectures were given by women. Among the 50 researchers on the scientific staff of the National Institute of Pure and Applied Mathematics (IMPA), the most prestigious mathematics research institute in Brazil, only one is a woman.

The underrepresentation of women in the field of CETEM is a worldwide and worrying phenomenon for science. Diversity is at the heart of research and innovation. Studies show that the diversity of a research group increases its efficiency, bringing new perspectives and ideas, increasing the creativity and collective intelligence of the group [3], and gender is a fundamental component of diversity. It is therefore important to reflect on the gender discrepancy in CETEM, particularly in mathematics, its causes, challenges and possible initiatives to reduce it. With this objective, debates and roundtables on gender in mathematics have been independently organized in several universities and teaching and research institutions, bringing to the scientific community a discussion that can no longer wait. We highlight in particular the national debate cycle "Mathematics: feminine noun – Challenges and perspectives on the gender issue" [4] and the organization of the "World Meeting for Women in Mathematics" [5], which precedes the prestigious International Congress of Mathematicians, to be held in August 2018 in Rio de Janeiro.

The gender disparity in Brazilian mathematics can be observed even before entering higher education. The Brazilian Mathematics Olympiad for Public Schools (OBMEP) [6], aimed at students from the 6th grade of elementary school to the 3rd year of high school, provides significant data. OBMEP had its 13th edition in 2017, with more than 18 million students enrolled from more than 53,000 schools across the country, reaching 99.6% of Brazilian municipalities. The table below shows the percentages of girls among all those enrolled in the 2nd phase of OBMEP 2017 and among the gold, silver, and bronze medalists, in the 3 levels of the competition. At level 1, students enrolled in the 6th or 7th grade of elementary school compete; at level 2, students enrolled in the 8th or 9th grade of elementary school participate; and at level 3, students enrolled in any year of high school.

The factors contributing to this discrepancy are numerous and complex, but cultural stereotypes carry significant weight in this equation. Brazilian society in general imposes quite distinct social roles on men and women and has very different expectations regarding boys and girls. Research demonstrates that the stereotype that men are better than women at mathematics can, by itself, negatively affect the performance of girls and women in this discipline [7, 8, 9]. Furthermore, unconscious biases create concrete obstacles in women's careers at Cetem. For example, studies describe the "Matilda effect": scientific articles authored by women are perceived as being of lower quality than those authored by men [10]. The gender imbalance at Cetem further reinforces the stereotype of the male mathematician, leading us to a vicious cycle.

A recent article in the journal Science [11] shows that these stereotypes begin to affect children’s behavior around the age of 6. In the research, children aged 5 to 7 heard a story about a very intelligent person. They were then shown pictures of four people – two men and two women – and had to say which one was the protagonist of the story. Five-year-old boys and girls tended to identify the protagonist as being of their own gender. However, six- and seven-year-old girls were more likely to identify the protagonist as male. This suggests that children’s perception of intelligence changes rapidly and that gender stereotypes are already evident at age 6.

Breaking gender stereotypes in mathematics is a difficult challenge, which involves, among other initiatives, giving visibility to the work of talented female mathematicians. The Pioneers of Science in Brazil program [12] recovers the history and work of the first Brazilian female researchers in various fields of science, including mathematics. Currently, there are many female scientists developing cutting-edge research in mathematics in Brazil. The 2018 International Congress of Mathematicians will have around 200 invited speakers. Among the 13 Brazilian speakers, 4 are women (30%).

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