With unprecedented skills shortages looming in Australia, more than ever we need gender equity in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics. Here’s what needs to happen.
In 2016, women represented just 29% of workers with university qualifications in science, technology, engineering or maths. And that was before the pandemic disruption.
There is no shortage of projects to boost the number of women in science, technology, engineering and maths. But what we need is more hard data on whether and how these schemes are actually working.
A landmark study of academic grades of 1.6 million students has shown that girls and boys perform very similarly in STEM – including at the top of the class.