Gender Statisitics
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 32% 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, of these positions two of the successful candidates were to commence in 2020 (one had already commenced in 2019). As at the end of 2020, the second of the positions had commenced, but given the impacts of COVID-19 the third was unable to be taken up as the fellow was unable to come to Australia.
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
| UniMelb | 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 | X | M | F | X | M | F | M | F | X | M | F | M | F | M | F | M | F | M | F | X | ||
| Chief Investigators | 3 | 2 | 0 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 16 | 4 | 0 | 20 | 20% |
| Associate Investigators | 22 | 8 | 0 | 22 | 8 | 0 | 5 | 0 | 7 | 4 | 0 | 6 | 0 | 7 | 2 | 9 | 5 | 20 | 14 | 98 | 41 | 0 | 139 | 29% |
| Research Fellows | 6 | 0 | 0 | 8 | 4 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 22 | 8 | 0 | 30 | 27% |
| PhD Students | 14 | 7 | 0 | 30 | 17 | 0 | 7 | 4 | 9 | 7 | 1 | 5 | 2 | 7 | 4 | 17 | 8 | 2 | 2 | 91 | 51 | 1 | 143 | 36% |
| Masters by Research Students | 2 | 0 | 0 | 9 | 5 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 15 | 5 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 28 | 12 | 1 | 41 | 29% |
| Masters by Coursework Students | 2 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 5 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 7 | 10 | 0 | 17 | 59% |
| Honours Students | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 5 | 4 | 13 | 38% |
| Vacation Students | 1 | 0 | 0 | 10 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 16 | 6 | 0 | 22 | 27% |
| Affiliate Members | 0 | 0 | 0 | 7 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 11 | 5 | 1 | 17 | 29% |
| Academic overall | 50 | 21 | 0 | 91 | 42 | 1 | 14 | 9 | 36 | 18 | 6 | 17 | 2 | 22 | 13 | 38 | 21 | 25 | 16 | 293 | 142 | 7 | 442 | 32% |
| Total academic personnel at Node | 71 | 134 | 23 | 60 | 19 | 35 | 59 | 41 | 442 | Academic personnel Centre-wide during 2020 | ||||||||||||||
| Percentage of female academic personnel by Node | 30% | 31% | 39% | 30% | 11% | 37% | 36% | 39% | 32% | Percentage of female academic personnel Centre-wide | ||||||||||||||
| Professional Staff | 1 | 7 | 0 | 1 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 16 | 0 | 18 | 89% |
| All Members overall | 51 | 28 | 0 | 92 | 46 | 1 | 14 | 10 | 36 | 20 | 6 | 17 | 2 | 22 | 14 | 38 | 22 | 25 | 16 | 295 | 158 | 7 | 460 | 34% |
| Total personnel at Node | 79 | 139 | 24 | 62 | 19 | 36 | 60 | 41 | 460 | Total personnel Centre-wide during 2020 | ||||||||||||||
| Percentage of female personnel by Node | 35% | 33% | 42% | 32% | 11% | 39% | 37% | 39% | 34% | Percentage of female personnel Centre-wide | ||||||||||||||
NOTE: These figures show how many members and their gender each node has had throughout 2020 rather than a snapshot at a single timepoint. Therefore:
- Every member is counted in full, even if they are part-time or job-share.
- Figures are cumulative over 2020 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).
- Contract and member renewals are counted once only.
- Each instance of a member changing categories in 2020 is counted towards each of the relevant categories (e.g. departing RFs becoming AIs; students completing masters and becoming PhD students; etc).
- Each instance of a member changing node in 2020 is counted towards each respective node.