The experiences of individuals in doctoral mathematics programs: A focus on women

Despite the fact that women continue to be severely underrepresented in top-ranked doctoral mathematics departments, few studies in the literature have addressed why women, who have the ability, opportunity, and interest to pursue a degree in advanced mathematics, prematurely leave the field of mathematics in graduate school or, if they do not, have different career aspirations from men. In this study gender is used as an analytic lens by which to compare the initial expectations and career aspirations of men and women prior to entering a doctoral program, and to examine how the cultural environments of the doctoral programs in which they were enrolled may have influenced their thoughts about withdrawing, their educational trajectories, and their career aspirations.

Given both the complexity of these issues and the methodological challenges they present due primarily to the paucity of women in advanced mathematics, this study employed a mixed methods design. A total of sixty male and female currently enrolled doctoral mathematics students completed a survey; and, twelve were interviewed as follow-up to give greater insight into the nature of their survey responses.

Results of this study point to academic and social adjustment issues that were differentially experienced by the men and women as currently enrolled graduate students. Many of these issues also were, in general, unanticipated by these students prior to their entering graduate school. Women, in general, were primarily motivated to pursue a doctorate in mathematics because of the encouragement they had received from family and undergraduate faculty, whereas the decision men made to pursue a doctorate depended less on the support they had received. The setbacks women faced in graduate school led to a longer lasting more severe erosion of their self-confidence. Women were less well integrated into the academic community. Some found it difficult to collaborate with their male peers and some reported biased and sexist incidents.