Women in Mathematics : The Addition of Difference

ways in which the practices and ideology of this [mathematical] community create an atmosphere that prevents women from being completely accepted as full-fledged members?” (p. xvii) Addressing this question meant that Henrion would have to identify the “ideology” of the mathematical community and investigate the impact of this ideology on women. The book in its final incarnation is thus a collection of interviews with prominent women mathematicians interspersed with musings about the ideology of the mathematical community and debunking of certain widespread myths about mathematicians and mathematical productivity. Underlying the whole narrative is the suggestion that while the women interviewed could successfully use mathematics as a way of breaking free of general societal prejudices about women’s roles, it was less easy to break away from stereotypes within the mathematical community. “In this sense, while they could use mathematics as a refuge from the conflicting expectations of society, it was harder to escape the sometimes confining expectations of mathematics” (p. xix).