Greg Martin: Addressing the Underrepresentation of Women in Mathematics Conferences

Despite significant improvements over the last few generations, the discipline of mathematics
still counts a disproportionately small number of women among its practitioners. These
women are underrepresented as conference speakers, even more so than the underrepresentation of
women among PhD-earners as a whole. This underrepresentation is the result of implicit biases
present within all of us, which cause us (on average) to perceive and treat women and men differently
and unfairly. These mutually reinforcing biases begin in primary school, remain active through
university study, and continue to oppose women’s careers through their effects on hiring, evaluation,
awarding of prizes, and inclusion in journal editorial boards and conference organization committees.
Underrepresentation of women as conference speakers is a symptom of these biases, but it
also serves to perpetuate them; therefore, addressing the inequity at conferences is valuable and necessary
for countering this underrepresentation. We describe in detail the biases against women in
mathematics, knowing that greater awareness of them leads to a better ability to mitigate them. Finally,
we make explicit suggestions for organizing conferences in ways that are equitable for female
mathematicians.