The low participation of women in STEM fields is well-known and has been well documented around the world. Closing this gap plays a central role in achieving a more equal society and thus sustainable development. The gender gap in STEM must be understood as a complex problem which can be explained through various factors (cultural, economic, and social) and therefore requires the efforts of different disciplines and actors. This article proposes that the hegemonic masculinity theory together with the concept of belonging, understood from the point of view of feminist studies and cultural studies, can contribute a necessary conceptual framework for understanding the causes behind the gender gap in engineering.

The Chilean feminist movements challenged the state and educational authorities regarding recurring instances of gender-based violence that were perpetuated and silenced. Reports of harassment and sexual abuse led to a broader critique about the ways in which education plays a part in the establishment of a model that sustains gender gaps. University authorities responded with institutional policies, establishing protocols and formal spaces to address these issues. However, these measures have revealed new problems. Given that the institutional response to the feminist uprising illuminated a range of nuances, obstacles, and new tensions related to issues of punishment, reparation, and justice, we identify four critical points of these political dissonances that emerged in Chilean universities following this cycle of protests: 1. problems in the definition and naming of violence and experiences of grievance; 2. public exposure of grievances, including “funas” (public shaming) and punitive practices; 3. disputes over the meaning of the slogan “non-sexist education”; 4. challenges in integrating the feminist complaint within the university community. Based on the analysis of slogans, key protest moments, and a comprehensive literature review, we argue that these tensions may hinder feminism’s transformative potential while simultaneously enabling a valuable internal critique.

This paper looks at the impact of gender on the way mistakes are managed in mathematics education. If first describes the historical interweaving of error, mathematics and gender. Subsequently, using microsociology based on a feminist and socio-constructivist paradigm, it documents and analyses both practicing and trainee mathematics teachers’ experiences of error. We identify the effects of hegemonic masculinity on contexts of mathematical teaching and learning. With respect to mistake-handling related experiences, this manifests as competitiveness and aggressiveness, which have significant ramifications for student participation, particularly in the case of women. In response, we propose metacognition-assisted solving of problems with a low floor and a high ceiling as means to move away from mathematics education for war towards the recognition of vulnerability.

The idea of celebrating women in mathematics on Maryam Mirzakhani’s birthday, May 12, was proposed by the Women’s Committee of the Iranian Mathematical Society at the World Meeting for Women in Mathematics in 2018. The “May 12 Initiative” rose to a global and inclusive call to action, uniting several national and continental women-in-mathematics organizations worldwide.