Difficulties Faced by Women in Mathematics: A Literature Review

While feminism has become a field of study and sexual equality was promoted throughout

society, inequality based on gender still presents in academia. In the 20th and 21st centuries,

women pursuing a profession in mathematics are taken less seriously in academia and are viewed

as less talented in math than men. Although there are articles addressing the difficulty for women

to receive equal opportunity in math education and math academia, they have low accessibility

for most of the population and cannot give a comprehensive view of the problem independently.

This literature review brings together academic and non-academic in different fields of study.

While each source focuses on the difficulty faced by women in math education or math

professions, when integrated together, they give a universal view of the inequality in math

education and academia and its cause. The inequality has root in education, psychology and even

institutional studies, and results in less opportunities for women in education and academia in

mathematics.

In “Emmy Noether.”, Steve Kennedy, an assistant professor at Carleton College, provided a

short biography of Emmy Noether, who was known as one of the greatest female mathematicians

in history, to anyone interested in the history of math. The author focuses on the difficulties

Emmy Noether met when seeking a profession in mathematics and her mathematical

achievement in the field of algebra. The article is credible since it contains no subjective idea

from the author, and most parts of this biography are history and quotes. The author shows that

even as an “extraordinary assistant professor” and having recommendations from great

mathematicians like David Hilbert and Felix Klein, Emmy Noether was still forced to give up

her position at Gottingen because of her gender.1 This shows that even one of the greatest

1
Steve Kennedy, "Emmy Noether," Math Horizons 4, no. 2 (1996):17, JSTOR.
mathematicians, was treated unfairly because of gender, and thus implying that most women are

receiving fewer opportunities than men in mathematical education and are being excluded from

academia. While this article gives an example of gender inequality in math academia, the sample

size is too small to provide a comprehensive view of the difficulties women face in math

education and academia and their cause.

In "Toward Thinking Feminism and Mathematics Together", Suzanne Damarin, a

mathematician at Ohio State University, uses quotes from mathematicians and feminists and data

from studies in mathematics education to show that women are generally not being treated

equally as men in mathematics. They pointed out that many women having a high aptitude for

mathematics are absent from academia because “so many more women have a high aptitude for

mathematics than have career requiring one”, and that feminists are not paying enough attention

to females in mathematics.2 The author convincingly showed that it is necessary for women and

feminist men to support women in mathematics and to contribute to make academia a better

place for both genders. She did this by first showing that in the field of mathematical education,

people “resist any distinction between biological and social phenomena” and thus made it

unlikely for women to get the same level of mathematical education as men.3 Then, she argues

that research in psychology and institutional studies on the relationship between gender and

mathematical performance does not represent reality due to social factors. Thus, if social

phenomena and their relation to sex are taken into consideration, they will show that women are

having fewer opportunities in mathematics. However, since the author’s intended audiences are

women and feminist men, most of the quotes and studies are largely taken from feminist and

women mathematicians, which might have a bias due to their beliefs. Thus, studies from other
2
Suzanne Damarin, "Toward Thinking Feminism and Mathematics Together," Signs 34, no. 1 (2008): 101-23, JSTOR.
3
Damarin, "Toward Thinking Feminism and Mathematics Together," 106.
fields are required to prove that these beliefs are not favoring the feminist, and although this

article analyzed the discrimination faced by adult women mathematicians, it does not show the

inequality in elementary math education.

In “Mathematics and Sex”, John Ernest, a professor at UCSB, examined the difference in math

education for men and women. A hypothesis of Lucy Sells states that “mathematics is a critical

filter tending to eliminate women from many fields”.4 This concerns the author, who later did

this research to verify the correctness of the hypothesis. The author examined the difference in

math education depending on gender by looking at the attitude of elementary and high school

students and teachers toward education in mathematics. Then, he went on to examine the

opportunities provided to women in mathematics in university and academia.

Professor Ernest first examined the case for elementary and high school, he uses 1324

questionnaires on students, asking three questions. First, ranking different subjects according to

preference. Second, from whom students usually ask for help if they encounter problems in

English and Math. Third, asking students whether they think boys or girls are good at some

subjects. Then, he uses questionnaires on 27 elementary or high school teachers and 75

prospective teachers, trying to find their attitudes toward mathematics and the role of gender in

math. He concluded that high school is the place where students are influenced by the sexual

stereotype, where women are viewed as less talented than men. This can be found from the

questionnaires in which students have a sudden change in their attitude toward the relationship

between gender and academic subjects. Thus, women are receiving fewer opportunities in

elementary math education. Then, he examined the situation in university and academia using

the statistics of course enrollment and attrition rates of different genders, where he found a huge

4
John Ernest, "Mathematics and Sex," The American Mathematical Monthly 83, no. 8 (1976): 595-614, JSTOR.
difference in both the attrition rates and enrollment of math classes. The fact that “women’s

attrition rate almost double that of men” is “particularly disconcerting as the original enrollment

of women was already disproportionately low.”5 He also did research on students’ intention to

major in math and the degree they get. All these shows that women are receiving fewer math

education in college level. The author thus convincingly draws the same conclusion, that women

are receiving fewer opportunities in math education.

In isolation, each of the sources provides only a partial view of the gender inequality in math

education and academia and its cause. However, when viewed together, they provide a

comprehensive understanding of difficulty faced by women mathematicians in academia,

feminists’ view toward women and mathematics, and gender inequality in elementary and higher

math education, all of them show either the cause of gender inequality in mathematics or the

consequence of the inequality. This literature review presents academic and non-academic

articles from different fields of study to establish awareness of the gender inequality in math

education and academia, and thus promote change in the field of mathematics.

Bibliography

Damarin, Suzanne. "Toward Thinking Feminism and Mathematics Together." Signs 34, no. 1
(2008): 101-23. JSTOR.

Ernest, John. "Mathematics and Sex." The American Mathematical Monthly 83, no. 8 (1976):
595-614. JSTOR.

Kennedy, Steve. "Emmy Noether." Math Horizons 4, no. 2 (1996): 17. Accessed July 9, 2021.
JSTOR.

5
Ernest, "Mathematics and Sex," 603.