This web site is host to numerous links to information about publications, people, associations, opportunities, activities, and statistics relating to women in mathematics.

Personal accounts of UC Davis women faculty.

The Chronicle, 11/11/2005. "As a postdoctoral researcher, Sherry M.J. Towers thought she had all the rights of a university employee. After a careful reading of her university's handbook, she calculated that she could take three months off after the birth of her second child, in 2003. But before her daughter was three weeks old, Ms. Towers was back in her research office — making presentations at meetings, consulting with a graduate student she supervised, and finishing a paper. Her infant daughter, still too young for a day-care center, sat stashed in a car seat under Ms. Towers's desk."

This page contains pointers to information about US federal equal employment laws and regulations which may be relevant to academics and researchers in computer science (or similar fields).

In Willie Pearson Jr. and Irwin Fechter eds. Who Will Do Science? Educating the Next Generation, Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1994.

New York Times, April 8, 2001. "Two years ago, Dr. Hopkins led a knot of women professors who documented pervasive bias at M.I.T., prompting the university to admit it had unintentionally discriminated against female faculty members. The admission from such a prominent institution and its moves to correct inequities have resonated widely. There had been other reports at other universities, but this one looked beyond the numbers, to how women were treated."

"This article explores this fourth possible explanation for the dearth of women in science: They found better jobs."

by Ann Douglas, Salon Magazine, October 11, 1999. "Women at elite universities may have broken the ivory ceiling, but they're still battling old-fashioned discrimination."

ScienceCareers.org "Pregnancy poses challenges in a researcher's career. Terms of employment may be unclear. A laboratory environment can be treacherous. And the vocational nature of a research career means that pregnant women often feel uncomfortable about adapting their work to their pregnancy or making cover arrangements for when they are on maternity leave. Pregnant scientists may also find that the level of benefits and support they receive depends on the stage of their career and the sector they work in."

National Academy Press, 2001. "Although women have made important inroads in science and engineering since the early 1970s, their progress in these fields has stalled over the past several years. This study looks at women in science and engineering careers in the 1970s and 1980s, documenting differences in career outcomes between men and women and between women of different races and ethnic backgrounds."

Rachael Hawkins examines the experiences in women in science.

by Kristen Philipkoski, Wired News, February 25, 2000. "Only six percent of all Asian Americans employed by universities hold faculty or administrative positions, a statistic far out of whack with their accomplishments."

"We find evidence that female scientists and engineers are less successful than their male counterparts in traveling along the academic career path. Some of this disparity appears to be related to differences between the sexes in the influence of family characteristics. Typically, married women and women with children are less successful than men who are married and have children. Our estimates of gender differences in success rates are relatively insensitive to characteristics of academic employers and to primary work activity."

A multivariate analysis of salaries of male and female engineers shows that differences are almost totally explained by the number of years of experience.

Ceci and Williams, PNAS. "We conclude that differential gendered outcomes in the real world result from differences in resources attributable to choices, whether free or constrained, and that such choices could be influenced and better informed through education if resources were so directed. Thus, the ongoing focus on sex discrimination in reviewing, interviewing, and hiring represents costly, misplaced effort: Society is engaged in the present in solving problems of the past, rather than in addressing meaningful limitations deterring women’s participation in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics careers today. Addressing today’s causes of underrepresentation requires focusing on education and policy changes that will make institutions responsive to differing biological realities of the sexes."

An overview of several European postdoctoral fellowships for women returning to the scientific workforce after time off to raise a family.

"As colleges have adopted 'family friendly' tenure policies, many female academics have feared that using these benefits may not actually help them. Taking leaves or extending the tenure clock ends up being used against you by faculty members who don’t understand the need for such policies, they say, explaining their reluctance to take advantage of these benefits."

National Science Foundation: "This site provides data on the participation of women, minorities, and persons with disabilities in science and engineering education and employment. The data are organized by topic and are presented in tables, graphics, and spreadsheets for downloading."

"Economist Linda Babcock performed a comprehensive study of the starting salaries of students graduating from Carnegie Mellon University with master's degrees (2003). She found that students who had negotiated (most of them men) were able to increase their starting salaries by an average of 7.4% or $4,053 - almost the exact difference she found between men's and women's average starting pay. Through a series of similar experiments, Babcock found that in general, women tend to be less likely to initiate negotiations, more apprehensive about negotiating, and more pessimistic about their own worth."

by Camille Paglia, Salon, April 7, 1999. A skeptical take on the MIT gender bias case.

Online and offline networking and resources for women interested in learning about the Internet and exploring job opportunities in new media.

The Premier Search Directory for Women Online

A nice collection of internet resources for women, particularily those in computer science, but with connections to other information as well.