Gender in University Mathematics

Dr Jennifer Hall & Travis Robinson
Monash University

Gender issues have long been a focus of mathematics education research, but in recent years, there has been less focus on it as people perceive that it is a problem that has been solved. However, many troubling gender disparities in mathematics experiences and outcomes still exist, both in Australia and internationally and such disparities have long-lasting impacts on the choices that girls and women make in terms of education and careers, which is evidenced by the “leaky pipeline”, which is the decreasing participation by women in mathematics with increasing level of education.

The authors participated in a project to highlight student experiences as they studied university mathematics, and this article summarises the project’s gender-related findings.