Information is first obtained on the four categorical variables: Field of Study, Sector of Statistical Activity, Level of Responsibility, and Income Scale. It is then converted into 12 indicators in the form of ratios or proportions - thus protecting the confidentiality of information, and making it possible to eventually arrive at comparable country profiles. Some general information about each country is also recorded and constitutes part of the country's final report.

This ambitious project was initially proposed, and is being coordinated, by committee member Lelia Boeri de Cervetto (notas@indec.mecon.ar) with the collaboration of Celina Curti (ccurti@spu.edu.ar) and Alicia Masautis (masautis@ds.mcye.gov.ar).They were later joined by Mirta Veron and Maria Nieves Garcia - all of Buenos Aires, Argentina. This General Coordinating Group, with Lelia Cervetto as principal coordinator, functions entirely on a volunteer basis, as does the local coordinator in each country. Contact with local coordinators is maintained through the offices of Argentina's Instituto Nacional de Estadistica y Censos (INDEC), which has provided the coordination group with office space, personnel assistance and communications facilities. Without this generous support by INDEC, and the dedication of the coordinators, this project would not have been possible.

The principal coordinator, Lelia Boeri de Cervetto, presented a brief summary of the general coordinating group's report at the committee's open meeting in Helsinki, Finland, on August 12, 1999. The report, entitled "A Characterization of Statisticians by Gender in Several Countries", contains individual reports on the work, some only partially completed, from several of the countries that were originally enlisted in the project. It also gives some evaluation of the results so far received, and plans for carrying on with the project. Copies of this report are available upon request from Lelia Cervetto (notas@indec.mecon.ar) .