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ISI Committee
on Women in Statistics
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1999-2001 ACTIVITIES
Women in Statistics: Where are We This was the topic of an invited paper presented by CWS chair Beverley Carlson during the
IAOS conference on Statistics, Development and Human Rights which took
place in Montreux, Switzerland, in September 2000. The paper was part
of a session on Gender Statistics and Indicators of Women's
Empowerment. In it, Ms. Carlson analyzed the participation of women in the ISI and its Sections, reviewed women's standing in the academic profession - particularly in the sciences - and discussed the limitations of statistics on women.
Women in the Statistics Profession: A Status Report , also prepared by Ms. Carlson, appears in the International Statistical Review (2000), 68,3,339-352, a publication of the ISI.
The Role of women in Statistics in the New Millennium
This was the topic of an Invited Paper Meeting at the 52nd Session of the ISI in Helsinki on August 14, 1999. At the meeting, which was organized by the ISI Committee on Women in Statistics (CWS), six distinguished statisticians shared in the preparation, presentation and discussion of the papers. The papers, as well as the discussants' contributions to the meeting, are referenced in what follows. These PDF files can be accessed using Version 3.1 or higher of the Adobe Acrobat Reader.
Professor Susan Wilson, of the Australian National University, and Professor Lynne Billard, of the University of Georgia, USA, presented a brief review of the careers of four outstanding women in the early history of statistical science and those of contemporary male colleagues. Their paper, Women in Statistical Science: An Historical Perspective, went on to look at the more recent picture, particularly that of women's current academic achievements and their status in the academic profession.
The second paper, Increasing Women's Participation in Statistics - Does it matter?, was given by Mr. Dennis Trewin of the Australian Bureau of Statistics, and the 1999-2001 president-elect of the International Statistical Institute (ISI), who emphasized the importance of diversity in the profession - with gender being one of the dimensions of such diversity. Mr. Trewin cited several factors that could be barriers to the increase of women's participation in statistics and suggested means for overcoming those barriers. In particular, women's low representation in the ISI could be remedied if certain steps were taken to actively seek more members. His answer to the question: "Does it matter?" in the title of his paper is an unqualified Yes.
Discussants were: Dr. Barbara Bailar of the National Opinion Research Council (NORC) at the University of Chicago; Dr. Ivan Fellegi, chief statistician of Statistics Canada; and Dr. Pilar Martin-Guzman, head of the National Statistical Office of Spain.
Dr. Bailar (see Bailar's comments) pointed out that women would find fewer barriers to employment and promotion in United States government positions than in similar positions elsewhere, and cited her own career advancement as an example. As to "Why does it matter" to have more women in statistics, one reason given by Dr. Bailar is the need for women to participate in the official interpretation of data - particularly data about women - and its subsequent use in formulating public policy.
Dr Fellegi (see Fellegi's comments) suggested that there might be a fifth barrier to increased participation of women in the statistical professions, in addition to the four mentioned by Mr. Trewin - namely, that of attitudinal or cultural differences. He described a study carried out by Statistics Canada in which it was observed that women were less likely to enter a competition for promotion to a higher grade than men, although success rates were reasonably high for those who did. However, some modifications in the competition process which seem to have encouraged more women to compete, subsequently had the effect of significant increases in their rates of promotion.
Dr. Martin-Guzman (see Martin-Guzman's comments) referred to the differences between men and women professionals cited by previous speakers and added other differences that she has observed, such as: women's having a stronger sense of service to the community than men, women's tendencey to be cooperative rather than authoritative, and women's tendency to have less ambition than men. She raised the question of whether such differences were gender characteristics or culturally imposed and whether, in the latter case, they might gradually disappear as cultural constraints on women's roles in society continue to weaken.
An Open Meeting of the Committee on Women in Statistics
The open meeting of the CWS during the ISI's Helsinki Session was an occasion for reports on committee activities as well as for committee members to hear the views of other Session participants.
- The main report was given by committee member Lelia Boeri de Cervetto, who spoke about the Characterizations project [see A CURRENT PROJECT] which she has headed for the past two years. Lelia pointed out that the project relates to two of the committee's Terms of Reference, namely: promoting women in the ISI, and improving the level of information about women statisticians in general. Of the 60 countries in which it was planned to collect data, it was possible to set up teams of volunteers in only 49 countries. Of those, 19 have completed their reports, while work continues in the others. A description of the project, lists of the volunteer country coordinators and their teams, individual country reports and other pertinent information are contained in a general report of 177 pages, prepared by the general coordinating team in Buenos Aires, and printed by Argentina's Instituto Nacional de Estadistica y Censos (INDEC), the project sponsor. The CWS acknowledges with gratitude the generous support provided by INDEC for this project. Copies of the report, "About Women Statisticians: A Characterization of Statisticians by Gender in Several Countries", are available from Mrs. Cervetto upon request.
- In a supplementary report, Celina Curti, a member of the general coordinating team for the Characterizations project, commented on the plan and described some of the difficulties encountered in collecting the data.
- Alain Azouvi, a member of the French team, presented some information about women statisticians in France. He pointed out that women occupy less than 4 percent of managerial positions in France, but there are more women in computer service jobs than men. He also raised the question of: What is a statistician? - a question that repeatedly came up in subsequent discussion from the floor, without arriving at a consensus.
- Eeva-Sisko Veikkola, gender statistics coordinator at Statistics Finland, reported about the situation in her country and noted that women are generally underpaid in all professions.
- Committee member Beverley Carlson called attention to the monograph, "Women in Statistics: THE PROFESSION SPEAKS", copies of which were made available at the meeting. The monograph was prepared by Ms. Carlson and published by the UN Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC). It contains the presentations at a panel discussion on Women in Statistics held during an international conference in Aguascalientes, Mexico, in September 1998, as well as some related material. Copies of the monograph are available from Ms. Carlson upon request.
- Committee member Denise Lievesley, who is also the current president of the Royal Statistical Society, pointed out that she is only the second female president of that society in its 170 years of existence and emphasized the need for networking in order to remove the remaining barriers to women's achievements in the statistical profession.
- Committee member Nanjamma Chinnappa referred to the Characterizations project and pointed out that the problem of finding time to volunteer for such a task is even more difficult for women in developing countries, where women's roles are viewed mainly as homemakers. Under such societal pressures, the professional woman is usually allowed little time on the job for volunteer activities.
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