Women Mathematicians : Their Contributions : A Critique

Contents: Preface. Abbreviations. Symbols. 1. Introduction. 2. Studies on Mathematical education. 3. Women mathematicians: history and contributions. 4. Sexist and non-sexist aspects of mathematics and contemporary women. 5. Liberal feminist interpretation of girls\' performance in mathematics. 6. Women\'s images, attitudes and mathematics. 7. Visibility of women mathematicians- a critical summary. Appendices. Bibliography. Index.

"The position of women in India as well as in other countries was not found encouraging in the past centuries. Women in the past were denied of their educational and other rights and were not treated on par with men. This position of women lasted up to the eighteenth century.

Today there has been a fast improvement in the status of women due to the concerted efforts taken by the women\'s rights activists and ideologists and also by the upsurge of women\'s rights movements. Women enjoy the freedom of right education at all levels and they enter into the public service with equal zeal and interest as that of their counterparts.

Mathematics is a rare area of discipline in which women have proved themselves as intellectually competent enough at par with men for a long period. The moment mathematics is spelt, it is understood as a male-dominated area of study and research and for a long time it is also proved to be under the monopoly of men to a larger extent. Though there have been a few women teaching mathematics at the higher level, such as universities, national institutes, they have not established themselves as mathematicians, of course as a teacher of mathematics.

It has been brought out book that women could establish their intellectual capabilities on par with men and in some cases they excelled men in the acquisition and dissemination of knowledge in the male-dominated subjects like mathematics, even during the period when they were deprived of their educational opportunities." (jacket)