Gender Bias in Higher Education: Spanish Doctoral

Dissertations in Mathematics Education

Summary:

The article, Gender Bias in Higher Education: Spanish Doctoral Dissertations in

Mathematics Education, is written by Monica Vellajo, Manuel Torralbo, and Antonio
Fernandez-Cano and addresses the institutional gender bias in Doctoral Dissertation
programs. The article specifically addresses data from Doctorate programs for Spanish
Mathematics Education. The study took place over 44 years as researchers compiled
data from institutions to see how many women were not only writing Doctoral
Dissertations, but how women were represented on the panels that assess these
dissertations, and how those numbers fluctuated over time due to the progress of
women towards equality. The three factors considered before data could be added to
the study were the sole authorship of the dissertation, the supervision of the retrieved
dissertation, and the committee that evaluated them. Results from the study indicate
that even though there is a similar amount of male and female individuals who hold a
Doctorate, men are better represented when it comes to supervising Dissertations. This
is the main issue the article raises, dominantly male supervision groups send a
message to students that women struggle to advance in the field of Mathematics
Education and fail to represent the amount of female Doctorate holders. This
contributes to a negative bias towards women beyond the classroom setting in
Mathematics Education and contributes to the idea of institutionalized bias in modern
society. The article concludes positively though as it addresses its results in contrast to
other earlier studies and highlights an increasing presence of women in the
Mathematics Education field.

Rhetorical Analysis:

Gender Bias in Higher Education: Spanish Doctoral Dissertations in Mathematics

Education, is an article published as academic journal and written by three spanish
researchers, Monica Vellajo, Manuel Torralbo, and Antonio Fernandez-Cano. It was first
published in July, 2015 and addresses data over a span from 1970-2014 in regards to
Spanish Mathematics Education Doctoral Dissertation review boards. The academic
journals intended audience would be anyone interested in data addressing gender bias,
with an interest in a career in Mathematics Education, and anyone else who may be
looking for information on doctorates or the dissertation process. The journal is filled
with data and interpretations of that data, making it longer and more technical than most
scholastic articles. This sense of a larger body of information contributes to how an
academic journal is held in higher regard as a source than an individual informative
piece. Almost 30 references are listed for the journal, proving its worth in its informative
value and verifying its context with citations, both of these things help validate the
finding in the journal. In the academic journal genre, more than just validated sources
and data interpretations are necessary to meet the conventions. The journal details the
aims, method, and design of the study before it addresses the results, informing readers
of how exactly they compiled the information they used to draw conclusions. All of these
things together culminate to form the journals purpose, which was to inform readers of
the unequal representation of women on doctoral dissertation review boards in Spanish
Mathematics Education based off the data provided over 44 years to researchers.

Citation:

Vallejo, Mnica, et al. "Gender Bias in Higher Education: Spanish Doctoral Dissertations
in Mathematics Education." Journal of Hispanic Higher Education, vol. 15, no. 3, 01 July
2016, pp. 205-220. EBSCOhost, librarylink.uncc.edu/login?
url=http://search.ebscohost.com.librarylink.uncc.edu/login.aspx?
direct=true&db=eric&AN=EJ1102993&site=ehost-live&scope=site.