Global Gender Gap Index 2014: 90th

Overall situation of women in mathematics

Basic facts:

• about 25% of active mathematicians working at the Mathematical Institute of Slovak Academy of Sciences are female (10 women);
• about 40% of mathematicians working as university lecturers at 10 universities in Slovakia are female (about 200 women);
• about 35% of leading positions in the boards of 2 existing Slovak professional mathematical societies (with about 160 members) are female;
• Union of Slovak Mathematicians and Physicists – 8M + 5F; Slovak Mathematical Society – 3M + 6F.

Activities for women in mathematics Currently there are no special committees or members of steering committees within any from above two professional organisations that would be responsible for promoting women in mathematics nor the agenda related to these issues.

The non-profit professional scientific organisation Slovak Society for Geometry and Graphics aimed to stimulate scientific development in the field of geometry and computer graphics, to support young scientists in these disciplines, and to enhance the quality of geometry and graphics education at all levels has about 45 members, while 33 of them are women.

This society organized under its own costs several special events for women in mathematics:

• Seminar Women in Geometry and Geometric Modelling, October 16-18, 2013, Kočovce, Educational Centre of Slovak University of Technology.
• In December 2013, during the annual meeting of Slovak mathematicians regularly organised by the Union of Slovak Mathematicians and Physicists a general discussion was held with the topic of possible establishment of a special board for women in mathematics that could take care about special needs of more women mathematicians and their promotion. Information about EWM was also provided here for all participants in order to foster interest of women to participate in EWM and benefit on its activities.
• A special seminar on position of women in mathematics in Slovakia was held during the international conference on applied mathematics Aplimat 2014, February 4-6.
• On October 16, 2014, during the Symposium on Computer Geometry held at the Institute of Mathematics and Physics, Slovak University of Technology in Bratislava, an informal meeting of participating women mathematicians was held, where information about EWM organisation and its activities was presented and possibility of individual membership was promoted.

EWM activities and membership

The EWM national coordinator for Slovakia has collected addresses of all women mathematicians who articulated interest to receive information about EWM and its activities, and disseminates all information received from the EWM to them.

They have been invited to participate in the first EWM meeting in Slovakia that will be held at the Institute of Mathematics and Physics, Slovak University of Technology in Bratislava, on September 30, 2015. Informations will be given about the 17th EWM General Meeting in Cortona, and it will be suggested to establish of a Slovak Group of Women in Mathematics – an official body dealing with gender issues, hidden forms of invisible discrimination and under-representation of women in decision bodies and boards related to Mathematics. In the meantime we will try to encourage more women mathematicians to attend this event. During the seminar possibilities and ideas on how to continue in order to promote better gender awareness in Slovak mathematical community remaining reluctant towards various gender problems in STEM.

So far, there are no other activities related to EWM in Slovakia, and there are only 2 members, while some others might hopefully appear during the meeting in September 2015.