Women and Mathematics: A Reverse Pyramid of Time

Can women do mathematics? The pedagogic-identity of this ‘hard science’ has made this question almost universal, across phases of history. Mathematics has been synonymous with ‘rationality, calculability and precision’ which have socially been constructed as male attributes. The origin of ‘female math-anxiety’ and consequent invisibility of women in the domain of mathematics points to the age-old cultural psyche of the male dominated societies. This paper attempts to study the struggles of the women mathematicians to overcome the hurdles of patriarchy in getting their due intellectual recognition and social acceptance.