As reported by Rick Reis (2006) in Tomorrow's Professor, Message
#717, "Proof and Prejudice: Women in Mathematics," Lisa Trie (2006)
in the "Stanford Report of 15 February 2006 wrote:
"According to [Londa] Schiebinger, women earn 46 percent of
undergraduate math degrees in this country but represent only 8
percent of math professors."
I relayed a portion of Trei's report to Math-Learn, Phys-L, PhysLrnR,
POD, and RUME, including the above statement attributed to
Schiebinger.
But in a recent RUME (Research in Undergraduate Mathematics) post
Cathy Kessel (2006), President-Elect of the Association for Women in
Mathematics <http://www.awm-math.org/>, wrote [bracketed by lines
"KKKKKKKKKK. . . ."; my CAPS; slightly edited]:
KKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKK
I WONDER IF SOME CONTEXT GOT LOST FROM SCHIEBINGER'S STATEMENT, MAYBE
SHE MEANT SOMETHING LIKE "PROFESSORS AT RESEARCH 1 UNIVERSITIES"?
In mathematics departments, tenure-eligible college faculty members
are 31% female, other full-time faculty members are 47% female, and
tenured faculty members are 17% female (Lutzer, Maxwell, & Rodi,
2002). In the "top 10" mathematics departments, there are
approximately 300 tenured faculty members; 16 of them are female
(Jackson, 2004).
Somewhat related is the episode of "The Simpsons" that is supposed to
air on April 30 is called "Girls Just Want to Have Sums" and is to
discuss women in
mathematics: <http://www.mathsci.appstate.edu/~sjg/simpsonsmath//sums.html>.
KKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKK
And on Apr 26 19:10:08 EDT 2006, Patricia Hale, in the Math Dept. at
Cal Poly Pomona posted on the RUME list:
"Another possibility is that [Schiebinger] simply meant only 8% of
full professors. The AMS data for 2004 indicates that 16% of tenured
faculty are women (combining Groups I, II, III, Va, M & B). I am
pretty sure the percentage for full professors is lower than the
percentage for Associate and Full combined."
Londa Schiebinger has not responded to a 26 April 2006 request for
clarification. I wonder if anyone has any further ideas on what Londa
Schiebinger might have meant?