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On 25 June, the School of Mathematics and Statistics at ��ݮ��Ƶ Sydney achieved an important milestone for advancing the role of women in mathematics. DO THE MATHS, our annual flagship event dedicated to fostering ability and passion in young women interested in maths, marked its 20^th anniversary.

For two decades DO THE MATHS has provided a vehicle to address gender inequity in mathematical degrees at university and in maths related professions. As Australia faces an ever-growing challenge in STEM education, particularly in mathematics where participation continues to decline, especially in the number of young women studying advanced mathematics, the School of Mathematics and Statistics has utilised DO THE MATHS to counter the trend.  

Envisioned by three early career ��ݮ��Ƶ academics (who have each gone on to become Professors in specialised areas of Mathematics and Statistics) – Adelle Coster, Catherine Greenhill, and Inge Koch – the program aimed to attract and retain women mathematics students.  

In 2004, they saw that women were poorly represented among academic staff (15 out of 75) and postgraduate students (8 out of 35) in the ��ݮ��Ƶ School of Mathematics and Statistics. To help address the issue, they applied for and received a ��ݮ��Ƶ Equity Initiatives Grant. The following year, in 2005, they mounted two events designed specifically for young women enrolled in year 11 advanced maths.

Professor Coster explains her driving force; “Mathematics has provided me with a really wonderful and rich life for work. I’m the daughter of a physicist and always saw mathematics and science as a legitimate and awesome career choice. The goal with DO THE MATHS was to share the joy of mathematics and to open doors of possibility for more women.”

The response to DO THE MATHS was remarkable. “We knew that there was community need,” says Professor Coster. “The events showed us that there was also huge interest and demand”. 

The first DO THE MATHS event, held in May 2005, attracted 35 participants and the second event, held in October the same year, drew in 25 more students. With each subsequent annual event, attendance has grown. DO THE MATHS now hosts hundreds of young women every year from throughout NSW and is supplemented by prizes and scholarships. The 2025 event, for example, hosted more than 330 students and their teachers from across NSW, including from four regional schools.  

At DO THE MATHS 2025 Professor Catherine Greenhill took to the stage once more as the host, welcoming a new generation of maths enthusiasts and demonstrating, she explains, how “studying mathematics helps us to learn how to think logically and find the keys to solving complex unseen problems. It’s these skills that employees are looking for in their graduate hires.”

Professor Greenhill introduced the 2025 ��ݮ��Ƶ Women in Mathematics and Statistics Ambassador, Dr Asilata Bapat, a researcher in Pure Mathematics from the Australian National University. Her talk title posed the question to the audience, ‘What does a mathematician do all day?’

Using examples from her own experiences, Dr Bapat emphasised the creativity and sheer variety involved in a mathematics career, dispelling any misconceptions that the answer might be ‘Simply multiplying larger and larger numbers together' or ‘Just staring at the blackboard until you discover something’.

The room buzzed as participants were next challenged with a hands-on maths activity, Counting Conundrums, presented by Dr Hannah Keese, a Lecturer in Mathematics at ��ݮ��Ƶ. Developed by fellow ��ݮ��Ƶ Mathematics Lecturers, Dr Sean Gardiner, Dr Jason Atnip, and Dr Yudhi Bunjamin, the activity explores what it is like to do research in the mathematical area of combinatorics.

Dr Gardiner explains the original concept behind the challenge.

“There are many situations in life where a problem is solved by counting. Counting may seem like a simple task, but sometimes counting can be surprisingly tricky. This activity explores approaches taken by STEM workers in different professions as they work to solve seemingly different counting tasks. It also demonstrates the importance of collaboration in mathematics, STEM disciplines, and the world in general.” 

Positive change in terms of increasing gender equity in mathematics at ��ݮ��Ƶ over the past 20 years is measurable. The ��ݮ��Ƶ Faculty of Science and the School of Mathematics and Statistics has witnessed a significant increase in enrolments of young women across all areas of STEM and particularly in mathematics: from 4 in 2015 to 172 in 2020.

In 2021, ��ݮ��Ƶ introduced new pathway university access opportunities to further benefit talented young women from an even broader network of high schools in metropolitan, regional, and remote areas. Since the first DO THE MATHS in 2005, supported by the introduction of prizes, scholarships, and internships for young women undertaking mathematical degrees, completion rates have also climbed.

Today, ��ݮ��Ƶ is a leader in research into all STEM areas and has seen the increasing role of women mathematicians and scientists both within ��ݮ��Ƶ and beyond, including in government departments, private sector groups, and NGOs around the world.  

Within her presentation at DO THE MATHS 2025, Dr Bapat pondered what it’s like to be a mathematician. Her answer was a list that resonated with everyone in the room; “It’s messy, collaborative, hard, fun, creative, abstract, experimental, social, and beautiful.” She told her audience that if you want to work with the world’s best minds (and travel!) - become a mathematician.

The School of Mathematics and Statistics would like to acknowledge the generous donor support received for DO THE MATHS from The Paradice Family Foundation, Wilson Asset Management, and Simon Poidevin.

Photography: Cassandra Hannagan