Women and Mathematics

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Women and Mathematics

Call me a bigot if you want but men are better mathematicians than women. Year after year, men score higher on the SAT’s, more men receive prestigious educations from the best technical schools in the nation, and men obtain more degrees, secure more jobs and get promoted more often. “The ETS report on students taking the SAT examinations indicates that males have traditionally scored 40-50 points higher on the mathematics section” (Women) “In 1996, California Institute of Technology’s enrollment was 75% male, Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s enrollment was 62% male, Renssalear Polytechnic Institute’s enrollment was 77% male, Rochester Institute of Technology’s enrollment was is 68% male, and Worchester Institute of Technology’s enrollment was 79% male” (Baron’s). The future for women who enter the work place as mathematicians is no more encouraging. “Roughly three times as many women are unemployed and six times as many women are in part time positions. The female mathematicians who acquire these full time jobs are less likely than men to be promoted to a position such as full or associate professor” (awm-math.org). Females’ lack of success as mathematicians has nothing to do with their mathematical potential. The reason females do not excel in mathematical fields can be explained by high school course selection, social pressures and support and not by genetic differences.

Psychologists have studied the impact of environment on human development for years. Most would agree that environment does shape us and play a role in some way or another. It is no wonder that mathematics has the tendency to turn women off. The world has ...

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...cs. In the years, the country has started to realize the injustice it has been doing females in the field of mathematics. I believe that in the future these biases and disadvantages will be a thing of the past. Females have the mental capability to perform on an equal level with all respected and distinguished male mathematicians, but first social pressures and stereotypes must be eliminated.

Works Cited

[1] Association for Women in Mathematics. Education and Career. http://www.awm-math.org/.

[2] Chipman, Susan F. Women and Mathematics: Balancing the Equation. Lawrence Erlbaum Associates Publishers, 1985

[3] Custard, Edward T. The Princeton Review Student Advantage Guide to the Best 301 Colleges. Random House, Inc. New York, 1996

[4] Nolan, Deborah. Women in Mathematics: Scaling the Heights. The Mathematical Association of America, 1997

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