Eugénie Hunsicker has published the “Report: EWM panel discussion on gender balance in mathematics at the European Congress of Mathematics” Eur. Math. Soc. Mag. 123 (2022), pp. 28–33.

Summary from the report

A European Women in Mathematics-sponsored online panel on Gender Balance in Mathematics took place on 22 June, 2021 as part of the ECM. As a long-time activist and advocate for diversity in mathematics, I was delighted to have been asked to chair the panel. The panelists were also a group of committed diversity advocates in a range of leadership roles within our community:

• Dr. Shabnam Beheshti (Director of Education, Department of Mathematics, Queen Mary University of London and researcher in mathematical relativity),
• Prof. Klavdija Kutnar (8ECM Organizing Committee Deputy Chair, Professor of Mathematics and Rector of University of Primorska, and researcher in algebraic graph theory),
• Prof. Volker Mehrmann (president of EMS, and researcher in numerical analysis),
• Prof. Jill Pipher (past-president of AMS, and researcher in harmonic analysis and PDE),
• Prof. Carola-Bibiane Schönlieb (former EWM convenor, and researcher in applied PDE, inverse problems and mathematical imaging).

The topics we discussed in the panel covered the span of issues of policy, practice and culture that research suggests are relevant for driving the gender-biased outcomes we observe. These include topics such as recruitment, promotion and the impact of family commitments, but also structural barriers in the shape of mathematical careers and cultural biases in the ways that success is judged within mathematics – topics that we need to discuss in our community if we are to make further progress. I hope the ideas presented in the panel encourage further discussion.

Download the full article here: Eur. Math. Soc. Mag. 123 (2022), pp. 28–33 (Open Access)