What does the number of women getting doctorates in
the US in mathematics tell you? In the last data year (2003) there
were 994 PhD's
granted in mathematics. Only 27% were women. It doesn't tell me
anything. Especially in the context that women have an even lower
percentage in computer sciences (20%) and engineering (17%). What I
notice is there are no feminist screamers trying to get the president
of Harvard fired because he talks about the reasons for the low degree
rates in computer sciences and engineering.
Nor does anyone give a damn that women get more PhD's in Psychology (65%) which has three times as many doctorates as math.
It is interesting that more foreigners come to get PhDs in the U.S. in engineering (60%) than any other field. Only computer science comes close with 50% and math with 48%.
To bad we don't grant immediate green cards to foreigners getting advanced degrees in the U.S. That is a more important issue in terms of commerce and intelligent policy than the ratio of women in the field of math. (pp536)