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Hiring in Tech Today: The Role of Gender and Racial Bias in 2021

If you’re a Caucasian male, you’ve won the lottery when it comes to getting hired in tech, or so it seems. According to tech diversity reports, in the biggest tech companies, men represent between 77% and 88% of the workforce, and Caucasians between 40% and 51%.

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The Hidden Heroines of Chaos

By Joshua Sokol (2019) This article is about two women programmers, Ellen Fetter and Margaret Hamilton, who were responsible for programming the enormous 1960s-era computer that would later be crucial in initiating the study of chaos theory. 

"Two women programmers played a pivotal role in the birth of chaos theory. Their previously untold story illustrates the changing status of computation in science."

Gender Sensitization in Indian Science: Attitude and Action Items

by Shubha Tole and Shashidhara, Current Science, June 2018. 

"(...) many well-meaning people may not be comfortable with dealing with women in the professional workspace. Since they do not know how to deal with women trainees/colleagues, they have interactions that are difficult for both sides, and often end up excluding or alienating women. Some accomplished scientists at top-tier institutions have been known to say that women students ‘start crying for everything’ and women postdocs ‘come only for breeding and child-rearing’."

Why are there so few women mathematicians?

The stereotype that women are bad at mathematics ends up being a self-fulfilling prophecy.

livemint e-Paper opinion 28 July 2017.

Quantitative Evaluation of Gender Bias in Astronomical Publications from Citation Counts

by Neven Caplar, Sandro Tacchella, Simon Birrer
arXiv.org/astro-ph/arXiv:1610.08984 October 2016.

The Effect of Gender in the Publication Patterns in Mathematics 

by Helena Mihaljevic-Brandt, Lucía Santamaría, Marco Tullney, PLOS ONE October 2016.

Gender Representation on Journal Editorial Boards in the Mathematical Sciences 

by Chad M. Topaz and Shilad Sen, PLOS ONE August 2016.

Gender disparity in computational biology research publications 

by Kevin S. Bonham, Melanie I. Stefan
BioRxiv  http://dx.doi.org/10.1101/070631 August 2016.

Engineering:  Where are the Girls and Why aren’t They Here? 

Video of talk by Jenna Carpenter, TEDx Monroe, Women in STEM Who Rock!, DreamBox Learning, Oct. 2015

Women's Representation in Mathematics Subfields: Evidence from the arXiv 

by Abra Brisbin and Ursula Whitcher (Sept. 2015)

"Data from papers posted to the Mathematics section of the arXiv is used to explore the representation of women in mathematics research. We show that women are under-represented as authors of mathematics papers on the arXiv, even in comparison to the proportion of women who hold full-time positions in mathematics departments. However, some subfields have much greater participation than others.''

Women in Data Science: 4 Perspectives 

by DS Examiner. August 2015. A discussion between four data scientists on opportunities for women interested in tech careers

Addressing the underrepresentation of women in mathematics conferences 

by Greg Martin, Univ. of British Columbia (2015). For critical comment see here.

The Four Frames:  A Framework for Promoting Gender Equity in Organizations 

WEPAN, March 2015. Adapted from CGO Insights, Briefing Note No. 1, Simmons Graduate School of Management.

Women in Mathematics: Change, Inertia, Stratification, Segregation 

by Cathy Kessel (2014)  On differences in proportions of women earning degrees and in academic departments, and stratification in professional awards and academic employment.

On being a mom and a mathematician 

by Lillian Pierce, (November 15, 2013), mathbabe.org On being a mom and a mathematician: interview by Lillian Pierce.

Do Girls Really Experience More Anxiety in Mathematics? 

by Thomas Goetz et al, (August 2013) Two studies examining gender differences in gender anxiety.  Implications for educational practices and the assessment of anxiety are discussed.

Teaching Mathematics With Women in Mind 

by Jessica M. Deshler and Elizabeth A. Burroughs, (October, 2013) On teaching mathematics and looking at how gender bias affects the classroom environment.   

Why Are There Still So Few Women in Science?

by Eileen Pollack, (October 3, 2013), New York Times Magazine On under-representation of women in STEM fields, despite equal representation amongst students on college campuses.

Más Mujeres Para la Ingeniería y las Ciencias 

Journalist María de la Luz Romero interviews Felipe Álvarez, Dean deputy of the Faculty of Physical and Mathematical Sciences (FCFM), University of Chile (August 2013), El Mercurio de Santiago.  Discusses a special program initiated by the FCFM to end with the prejudice that hard sciences are only for men. Actually only 20% of FCFM students are female, and 15% of the full time professors are women.

The Whole Women Thing

by Nancy M. Reid, (2013) Part of the volume of articles by the Committee of Presidents of Statistical Societies.  Looking at the past, present, and future of statistical science through a gender-biased lens.  

Science faculty’s subtle gender biases favor male students 

by Corinne Moss-Racusin et al. PNAS 2012

El progreso académico de las mujeres: retando los mitos y rompiendo el ciclo cultural

(Academic progress for women: confronting myths and breaking the cultural cycle)  by Lilliam Alvarez,
Academia de Ciencias de Cuba. Based on a talk in the IX Congreso Iberoamericano de Ciencia, Tecnología y Género, Sevilla (2012).

Why So Few:  Women in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics, 

AAUW, C. Hill, C. Corbett, A. St. Rose, 2010  "This report presents in-depth yet accessible profiles of eight key research findings that point to environmental and social barriers — including stereotypes, gender bias, and the climate of science and engineering departments in colleges and universities — that continue to block women’s progress in STEM."

Seven Practices of Working Mother Researchers

by Takako Hashimoto, (2010) Interesting and useful ideas on how to manage family and work.

Understanding current causes of women’s underrepresentation in science 

by Stephen J. Ceci and  Wendy M. Williams. PNAS 2010

To be read together with a critique of the same article by mathematics education consultant and former AWM President Cathy Kessel and University of Oregon mathematics professor Marie A. Vitulli.

Female teachers’ math anxiety affects girls’ math achievement 

by Sian Beilock et al, PNAS 2009

Women  Mathematicians in the Academic Ranks: A Call to Action

by Barbara Keyfitz et al., (2006) A report of the BIRS workshop on Women in Mathematics, September 24-28.  A review of existing research and data concerning the situation for women in mathematics in the Canada, Mexico, and The United States.  

Sex differences in creative style 

by Ravenna Helson (1967) This is the first of several famous articles by Ravenna Helson of the Institute of Personality Assessment and Research, Berkeleyand  wife of Berkeley mathematics professor Henry Helson. Originally published in 1967, it was republished online in the Journal of Personality 2006. It is well worth looking for other similar articles by the same author.

“… as women mathematicians, we will keep growing, keep writing, and keep getting better at math as we grow older (unlike men who typically do their best work when they’re 29), and we absolutely have to maintain a purpose and a drive and fortitude for that highest call, the struggle of creation.”         From  mathbabeTribute to Cora Sadosky