‘Slaughtering this beautiful math’: graduate women choosing and leaving mathematics

The quality of graduate students' relationships with faculty are crucial for students' success. Unfortunately, negative relationships with faculty are common for women in the sciences and mathematics. Six women doctoral students in one mathematics department in the US were interviewed to better understand the nature of their relationships with faculty members, and the effects of those relationships on their decisions to persist or to leave. These women described the limited or negative relationships they had with faculty. They spoke of ways in which they felt ignored, the lack of mentoring, advising, and other guidance, poor teaching, and a general lack of moral support. Each of them described ways in which they felt they did not ‘fit in’ in the department. These findings are interpreted through two lenses: the idea of participation in a community of practice and all that that entails, and Noddings' notions of caring. Implications for women in mathematics at all levels are discussed.