Here I am at the Massachusetts State Mathcounts competition. These are arguably the top middle school mathematicians in the state, and I have to confess at being struck by some interesting demographics. I don't have the actual numbers for this, but the organization is run by grey-haired white males; the preponderence of the coaches are women; the vast majority of the competitors are male. The male to female ratio is about 4:1. My impression is that if you are a private school, that greatly increases the probability that there are women on the team.
The top 10 students in the state are all male. Of those, by appearances, only 2 are Caucasian. The remaining 8 appear to all be of Asian descent, perhaps either Chinese or Indian.
I'm not sure what to make of all this, but as a woman in a STEM field, I find it pretty depressing.
