ABSTRACT
In the past five years, those concerned with gender equity in mathematics have witnessed an increasingly bright picture. In many western countries, programmes designed to appeal to women have appeared and been publicized (see reports in Burton, 1990). In the US, meta-analyses of journal and other published accounts indicate a decrease in the size of gender differences in mathematical achievement reported (Friedman, 1989; Hyde, Fennema and Lamon, 1990). A survey of new doctorates in the US reported a gradual increase in the proportion of degrees granted to women from 6 per cent in 1950 to 24 per cent in 1993 (American Mathematical Society, 1993). The first president of the AWM (Association for Women in Mathematics) gave a glowing account of the growth of that organization over the past twenty years (Blum, 1991).
