The common opinion that assumes a supposed inferiority for women in mathematics is widely known. Although this common opinion has been upheld by science, with studies centred on characterising human nature and supporting the resolute conception of what men and women are and the place and functions that respond to each in society (see the now classic meta-analysis of Hyde, Fennema and Lamon, 1990).

We will try to demonstrate in a certain way the truthfulness of this cruel assumed pattern 'of attribution related to gender' that reaches its limit in the supposed glass ceiling that prevents women achieving eminency in the field of mathematics, and that is concentrated in perverse sentences such as 'mathematics is not women' or 'mathematics is a male thing': see weekly studies by Murray (2000), Herzig (2004) and since the year 2000 reports from the National Science Foundation (NSF, 2000-…). For information in Spanish context, see related information from the partial findings of Vallejo, Rojas and Fernández-Cano (2002) o Torrablo, Fernández-Cano, Rico, Maz and Gutiérrez (2003).

An appropriate and at the same time very pertinent mechanism to throw new light on these and other beliefs, is using the tools made accessible to us by science itself and one of its capital productions: the doctoral thesis, that in general education and mathematics education have been investigated in Spanish context by Fernández-Cano, Torrablo and Vallejo (2008); Vallejo, Fernández-Cano and Torrablo (2006); Vallejo, Fernández-Cano, Torrablo, Maz and Rico (2008).

It deals with carrying out an analysis of mathematical education and its relation to women using as a source of evidence a crucial investigative document, which is the doctoral thesis. In this way we try to show the status and presence of women in the field of higher mathematics education, making evident the existence of possible biases against women in the pyramid of eminence and using as a reference the doctoral theses defended in mathematics education in Spain.

Fernández-Cano, A., Torralbo, M., & Vallejo, M. (2008). Revision and prospective of Spanish production of doctoral theses in Pedagogy (1976-2006). Revista de Investigación Educativa, 26(1), 191-207. Spanish Government-Ministry of Education and Science (2005). Royal Decree 56/2005, of 21st January, by which official postgraduate university studies are regulated. Boletín Oficial del Estado (25th January 2005), 21, 2846-2851. Herzig, A. H. (2004), Becoming mathematicians: Women and students of colour choosing and leaving doctoral Mathematics. Review of Educational Research, 74(2), 171-214. Hyde, J. S., Fennema, E. & Lamon, S. J. (1990). Gender differences in Mathematics performance: A meta-analysis. Psychological Bulletin, 10(2), 139-155. Murray, M. (2000). Women becoming mathematicians. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press. National Science Foundation (2000-…). Women, minorities, and persons with disabilities in Science and Engineering. Arlington, VA: National Science Foundation. Torralbo, M., Fernández-Cano, A., Rico, L., Maz, A., & Gutiérrez, M. P. (2003). Spanish doctoral theses in Mathematics Education. Enseñanza de las Ciencias, 21(2), 295-305. Vallejo, M. Rojas, C. A., & Fernández-Cano, A. (2002). Bias related to gender in Spanish scientific editorial policies in the field of Education. Revista Electrónica de Investigación y Evaluación Educativa (RELIEVE), 8(2). (ISSN: 1134-4032). Available at: http://www.uv.es/RELIEVE/v8n2/RELIEVEv8n2_3.htm Vallejo, M., Fernández-Cano, A., & Torralbo, M. (2006). Citation patterns in Spanish research in Mathematics Education. Revista Española de Documentación Científica, 39(3), 382-397. Zellers, D. F., Howard, V. M., & Barcic, M. A. (2008). Faculty mentoring programs: Reenvisioning rather than reinventing the wheel. Review of Educational Research, 78(3), 552-588.