28 Aug 2013

EWM Ukraine 2011-2013

Reported by Yuliya Namlyeyeva

No EWM activities have taken place in Ukraine. I resend the relevant information from the EWM to the members and interested scientists. Thanks to the support of EWM, a young PhD student from Ukraine took part in the recent EWM meeting in Krakow and will also be in Bonn.

I have not collected statistics about female mathematicians in Ukraine, but it’s visible that in the last several decades the number of female students of math faculties and PhD students in mathematics has being growing constantly. The reasons for this tendency are the low incomes in education system and hazy prospects for the future scientific career in Ukraine, so men look for more promising activity.

Despite the high number of women working at universities and scientific institution of Ukraine, there is some kind of “glass ceiling” for careers for women. Many women complain about it privately but don’t say it in public, possibly avoiding some ironic or aggressive reaction from male colleagues. Young women are more active than the older generation but often prefer not to join any female unions, for the same reasons. This is why the number of members of EWM in Ukraine grows so slowly (there are only 8 members of EWM in Ukraine at the moment).

On the other hand, there are some very positive movements, for example several very interesting international projects are running where the heads from the Ukrainian side are women; one member of EWM, Dr. Alexandra Antoniouk became the President of the Humboldt Club Ukraine just recently. The next regular conference organized by the Humboldt Club Ukraine will be held this September http://eumls2013.logo-st.com/; most members of the local organizing committee are women. We are going to discuss some future activity with the active female mathematicians in Kiev this autumn.