1993 Annual Report
AMS-ASA-AWM-IMS-MAA-NCTM-SIAM
Joint Committee on Women in the Mathematical Sciences
The Joint Committee on Women in Mathematics (JCW) is a
joint committee of the above seven mathematics societies; its charge
is to identify and recommend actions which those societies should take
to alleviate some of the disadvantages that women mathematicians
now experience and to document its recommendations and actions by
presenting data. Subgroups of the JCW met at the AMS-MAA joint
mathematics meeting in SanAntonio in January, 1993 and at the
ASA-IMS joint statistics meeting in San Francisco in August, 1993.
In addition, a good deal of committee business was conducted by
electronic mail. Specific actions and recommendations are
summarized below.
Because of the variety of mathematical sub-specialties
represented on the JCW, its members attend different professional
meetings so that there is no occasion on which the entire committee
meets face-to-face. Indeed, 1993 may be the first time that the chair of
JCW met with the IMS and ASA representatives at the summer joint
statistics meeting. Although the JCW has been able to accomplish a
great deal by electronic mail, it would be desirable for the entire
committee to meet in person at least once a year. Therefore, the JCW
chair requests that each of the mathematics societies represented on
JCW provide funds for their representatives to attend one meeting per
year of the JCW in person. Based upon the chair's experience at a
recent AMS committee meeting, a great deal can be accomplished at
modest cost during an intensive weekend meeting at a central
location, such as the O'Hare airport Hilton. If possible, funds should
be authorized so that these annual meetings of JCW can begin in the
autumn of 1994.
1. Federal Policy Agenda: At the request of JPBM (Joint Policy Board
for Mathematics), the JCW formulated recommendations on federal
policy aspects of gender-equity issues affecting mathematicians. A
copy of these recommendations are attached. The JCW
recommendations are expected to be integrated into JPBM's overall
federal policy agenda along with those from AMS, MAA and SIAM.
The JCW will continue to monitor developments in federal policy and
make additional recommendations as the need arises.
2. Congressional Commission: In the summer of 1992 a bill (HR3476)
was introduced into the House of Representatives to create a
Congressional Commission to study women in science and
engineering. Upon the recommendation of JCW and AWM, JPBM
endorsed this legislation. The legislation was not passed, but was
introduced again in 1993 (as HR467). To ensure that this commission
include representation from women in the mathematical sciences, the
JCW recommended to JPBM that the following names be submitted
for consideration for appointment to any such group.
Lynne Billard, University of Georgia (statistics)
Margaret Cozzens, NSF Division Director (past-chair at Northeastern)
Susan Devlin, Bellcore (statistics)
Mary Gray, American University (statistics and law)
Fern Hunt, NIST, (formerly at Howard University)
Joyce McLaughlin, Ford Professor of Applied Math at RPI
Mary Wheeler, Noah Harding Professor of Math, Rice Univ.
Margaret Wright, AT&T Bell Labs (SIAM vice-president)
Although congress failed to act on HR467 again in 1993, this list may
serve JPBM and the mathematics community as a resource for
recommendations in other situations.
3. NSF Graduate Fellowships and GRE Exam: A review of data on
the NSF graduate fellowship program showed that the success rate is
significantly lower for women than for men (i.e. in 1985-92 only 6% of
female applicants received fellowships, whereas 16% of male
applicants received fellowships). While the reasons for this are
unclear, it appears that lower scores for women on the mathematics
subject portion of the GRE may be an important factor. In the fall of
1992, the ETS is announced a major revision of the math subject
portion of the GRE. (See AMS Notices, 39, pp. 1024-1025 November,
1992). However, the math advisory committee contained only one
woman, Sylvia Bozeman, also the only minority representative and
the only member from a small liberal arts college.
Therefore, in Jan., 1993, the JCW passed the following
resolution: The JCW recommends that each of the mathematics
societies (represented on the JCW) strongly urge the ETS to appoint
two more women, preferably from PhD institutions, to the
mathematics advisory committee until the revision of the
mathematics GRE exam is completed. Even before all the
mathematical societies had responded, ETS agreed to expand the
committee to include two additional women (as well as additional
minority representation). As a result, ETS now has a "New Testing
Initiatives" committee in mathematics which includes Judith Arms
and Carol Wood in addition to the five members of the regular
"examiners" committee.
The JCW also expressed its concern both to Fred Wan, head
of DMS (Division of Mathematical Sciences) at NSF and to the
cognizant program officer (Susan Duby in Human Resources -- this
program is neither funded nor administered by DMS). Although
Duby did not respond, JCW had extensive lively and thought-
provoking e-mail correspondence with program officers at DMS.
4. Women Speakers at Mathematics Meetings: The paucity of women
speakers at many mathematics conferences continues to be a major
concern. Although some of the mathematics societies represented on
JCW have increased the number of women speakers at their meetings,
problems remain. At many other conferences, including many joint
and international meetings as well as independently organized
conferences, there are very few -- and often no -- women speakers. A
survey of AMS special sessions in 1992 and 1993 showed the
percentage of women among special session speakers was only 7-8% in
session organized solely by men, but jumped to 15-16% if there was at
least one woman among the organizers. (A summary is attached to
printed copies of this report.) The JCW will continue to explore
mechanisms for raising the number of women speakers at all types of
mathematics meetings to levels commensurate with their
representation in the research community. However, the support of
the mathematics societies is essential to the success of these efforts.
Therefore, the chair of JCW requests that each of the
societies represented on the JCW collect and disseminate statistics on
the participation of women in their activities, including hour and
special session speakers. Although the precise categories may vary
with the activities and meeting format of each society, the report in
the September 1993 AMS Notices (p. 935) may serve as a guide to the
type of data requested.
5. AMS-IMS-MAA Data Committee: During the past year, the JCW
has begun to collaborate more actively with the data committee.
Although this committee already does an excellent job of providing
valuable information to the mathematics community, there are areas
in which more detailed gender information may be useful. The data
committee has been very receptive to information requests from JCW.
Relevant information will be included in the regular data committee
reports or published in separate reports as appropriate.
6. Informational Activities: An awareness by the mathematics
community of the status and problems of women mathematicians as
well their possible solutions is essential to the advancement of
women in the mathematical sciences. In view of this, members of the
JCW undertaken a variety of informational activities under the aegis
of JCW. In October, 1993, the JCW sponsored a very well-received
panel on the "Recruitment and Retention of Women Faculty" at the
annual national math chairs meeting. Panelists were Jerry Bona, Mary
Gray, and Karen Uhlenbeck; organizer and chair was Beth Ruskai,
JCW chair. At the request of the JCW chair, one of its members, Peter
May, has written a forum article submitted to the AMS Notices. In
recent months there has been concern about the rumor that "women
are getting all the jobs" despite a lack of supporting data. (See. e.g.,
AMS Notices, pp. 588-90 July/August 1993; pp. 1332-3 December 1993.)
In response, one of the statisticians on JCW is reviewing data in
preparation for a more detailed report.
Submitted by M. Beth Ruskai, JCW chair
Attachments:
JCW Federal Policy Agenda
AMS 1992-93 special session data
AMS statistics on Women