Gender Equity and Math 
 
Maria Cucunoiu
School No. 10 Focsani, Romania
Somebody asked me once a really interesting question: “What does Mathematics mean to you?” It may seem a simple question, but I know it is a rather difficult for me to answer. Why? Because Math doesn’t involve for me just one simple meaning, for example, a subject that I study at school, on the contrary, it includes many aspects of my life. One thing is sure: Math has became a part of my life, not only of my school life, but also of my personal one, because of the joy brought to me by my successes in Math contests. I can surely say that Math has had a big influence on me since I first met it and in the long run, it became from a duty at school, a hobby. I worked Math exercises or problems even in my spare time, for pleasure and not as an obligation.

But let’s take the story of this friendship between Math and I from its very beginning! My first memory connected with Math is the feeling I had when I finished the second form. After two years of school, all of us knew what the object of Math was. Me too, I had a pretty good image about Math, and I mean that I knew, like everybody else, what Math was about. I realized at that moment that I liked Math much more than any other subjects studied in school, a reason being that I considered it very easy to understand. And not just for the simple reason that I liked numbers, but also because Math was very close to my own personality. I am a practical character, I can define myself as a reasonable and rational human being. That’s why I consider Math, which is a subject of logic and rational thinking, so close to my way of being.

During the years, Math gave me many satisfactions, because I always used to be among the firsts on the list at local Math contests, and especially, now when I take part at the national Math contests. It wasn’t enough only my skill, but I also had to work really hard and had to be persistent in my work to obtain these good results.
I’d like to mention now something very important to me. I would like to recall two persons who hold a very special place in my heart, and that because they played an important role in my life. I can surely say now, looking back, that without them nothing of what I realized would have been possible any longer. First of all it deserves to be mentioned my primary school teacher who discovered my potential and helped me in developing it, and then, my Math teacher who continued this intensive work and helped me this way to improve myself very much. I owe everything to these two special persons.

Now I am in the 7th form. As Math is one of the main subjects in the exams I have to pass from now on I must continue to work hard on it. I may say that my life relies on it.

Teacher coordinator Petru Dumitru