11.07.2015 Views

2DkcTXceO

2DkcTXceO

2DkcTXceO

SHOW MORE
SHOW LESS

Create successful ePaper yourself

Turn your PDF publications into a flip-book with our unique Google optimized e-Paper software.

130 Promoting equityand fellowship programs to encourage women and girls to study mathematicsand to support those in the profession. Prizes are awarded by AWM for theresearch of established mathematicians and undergraduates and for teaching.Through grant support from NSF, NSA, other foundations and individuals theorganization supports “Sonya Kovalevskaya Days” for high school and middleschool students at institutions throughout the country, events designed toinvolve the participants in hands-on activities, to present a broad view of theworld of mathematics, and to encourage a sense of comradeship with otherswho might be interested in mathematics.And things got better, at least in part due to vigorous advocacy work. Thepercentage of PhDs in math going to women went from 6% when I got my degreeto 30% before settling in the mid-twenties (the figure is more than 40% instatistics). Even “at the top” there was progress. The most prestigious universitydepartments discovered that there were women mathematicians worthy oftenure-track positions. A woman mathematician was elected to the NationalAcademy of Sciences, followed by several more. In its 100+ year history, theAMS finally elected two women presidents (the first in 1983, the last in 1995),compared with five of the seven most recent presidents of the American StatisticalAssociation (ASA). However, a combination of the still chilly climate forwomen in math and the fact that the gap between very abstract mathematicsand the work for political and social rights that I considered important ledme to switch to applied statistics.12.2 The Elizabeth Scott AwardTo learn that I had been selected for the Elizabeth Scott Award was a particularhonor for me. It was Betty Scott who was responsible in part for mydeciding to make the switch to statistics. Because I came to know of her effortsto establish salary equity at Berkeley, when a committee of the AmericanAssociation of University Professors decided to try to help other institutionsaccomplish a similar task, I thought of asking Betty to develop a kit (Scott,1977) to assist them.Using regression to study faculty salaries now seems an obvious technique;there are probably not many colleges or universities who have not tried to do soin the forty years since Title VII’s prohibition of discrimination in employmentbased on sex became applicable to college professors. Few will remember thatwhen it first was enacted, professors were exempted on the grounds that thequalifications and judgments involved were so subjective and specialized asto be beyond the requirement of equity and that in any case, discriminationwould be too difficult to prove. It still is difficult to prove, and unfortunatelyit still exists. That, through litigation or voluntary action, salary inequitieshave generally diminished is due partly to the cascade of studies based on

Hooray! Your file is uploaded and ready to be published.

Saved successfully!

Ooh no, something went wrong!