ACEMS and the gender imbalance in the Mathematical sciences

It is well-known that there is a marked gender imbalance in favour of males amongst people working in the mathematical sciences in Australia (see for example Marginson, S., Tytler, R., Freeman, B. and Roberts, K. (2013) STEM: country comparisons, international comparisons of science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) education, Chapter 12). It can be argued that this imbalance is even more pronounced at senior levels. Unfortunately, this gender imbalance is also present in ACEMS’ membership.

Table 1 contains details of the gender make-up of ACEMS academic staff and students at all levels and at all nodes. The table shows that only 29% of all ACEMS academic staff and students are female. The reasons for this imbalance are, of course, complex, and it will almost certainly take a range of measures to address the situation within ACEMS and within the wider mathematical sciences community.

To help address this imbalance, ACEMS created three female-only postdoctoral research fellow positions during 2019. As at the end of 2019, all three positions had been offered to the successful candidates, with one Research Fellow starting in December and the other two due to commence in 2020.

ACEMS members also organised and took part in a range of events to support women in the mathematical sciences. Moreover, throughout the year the Centre organised and sponsored many events that promoted and supported ‘Women in Maths’; highlights are provided elsewhere in the ‘Equity and Diversity’ section of this annual report.

TABLE 1: ACEMS gender breakdown by member category and node

UoM QUT UTS UoA UQ UNSW Monash Other Total Total personnel in this member category Percentage of female personnel by member category
Member category M F M F M F M F M F M F M F M F M F
Chief Investigators 3 2 4 1 1 1 2 0 2 0 2 0 2 0 0 0 16 4 20 20%
Associate Investigators 29 8 21 8 5 0 8 4 7 0 7 2 10 5 15 6 102 33 135 24%
Research Fellows 6 0 7 6 2 2 1 2 6 0 4 0 2 0 0 0 28 10 38 26%
PhD Students 13 9 30 15 7 2 10 5 7 1 7 3 14 10 2 1 90 46 136 34%
Masters by Research Students 2 1 6 5 0 0 11 5 2 0 1 0 0 2 0 0 22 13 35 37%
Masters by Coursework Students 4 4 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 5 1 0 0 0 0 10 5 15 33%
Honours Students 0 0 1 0 0 0 2 1 0 0 2 0 0 0 0 0 5 1 6 17%
Vacation Students 5 1 11 1 0 0 2 2 4 1 1 5 1 0 0 0 24 10 34 29%
Affiliate Members 0 0 5 4 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 2 0 9 5 14 36%
Academic Overall 62 25 85 40 15 6 38 19 28 2 29 11 30 17 19 7 306 127 433 29%
Total academic personnel at node 87 125 21 57 30 40 47 26 433 Academic personnel centre-wide during 2019
Percentage of female academic personnel by node 29% 32% 29% 33% 7% 28% 36% 27% 29% Percentage of female academic personnel centre-wide
Professional Staff 2 7 1 3 1 1 0 2 0 0 0 2 0 1 0 0 4 16 20 80%
All members overall 64 32 86 43 16 7 38 21 28 2 29 13 30 18 19 7 310 143 453 32%
Total personnel at node 96 129 23 59 30 42 48 26 453 Total personnel centre-wide during 2019
Percentage of female personnel by node 33% 33% 30% 36% 7% 31% 38% 27% 32% Percentage of female personnel by Centre-wide

NOTE – These figures show how many members and their gender each node has had throughout 2019 rather than a snapshot at a single timepoint. Therefore:

  1. Every member is counted in full, even if they are part-time or job-share.
  2. Figures are cumulative over 2019 so each member is counted in full even if they left during the year or started part way through (e.g. students graduate and commence throughout the year and they are all included in the student numbers; more than one person held some professional staff roles during the year and all individuals are counted; etc).
  3. Contract and member renewals are counted once only.
  4. Each instance of a member changing categories in 2019 is counted towards each of the relevant categories (e.g. departing RFs becoming AIs; students completing masters and becoming PhD students; etc).
  5. Each instance of a member changing node in 2019 is counted towards each respective node.