Opinion: Female participation in STEM subjects must increase fast

Conversations in the loungerooms and classrooms of Australia will be critical to ensure women are represented in these key industries, writes Margaret Sheil.

Parents and teachers hold the key to giving girls the confidence and opportunity to drive the future of science and technology in Australia.

Today, climate change, the global pandemic and artificial intelligence dominate news cycles, proving science, technology, engineering and maths (STEM) have a huge impact on our rapidly diversifying national economy.

And while there is a need for more workers in STEM fields – research says three-quarters of the fastest growing occupations will need people who have STEM-based skills and literacy – the Australian industry has a female problem.

Data shows that when you have more diversity in all areas of life, and specifically gender diversity, you get better outcomes in policy decisions and quality of life.

But in Australia girls enter STEM fields at dramatically lower rates than boys – resulting in less diverse thinking in global problem-solving, and fewer opportunities for girls to enter potentially high-satisfaction and prosperous careers.

The 2021 edition of the Australian government’s STEM Equity Monitor shows women’s participation in STEM is slowly increasing – they made up 36 per cent of Australian university STEM enrolments in 2019, up from 34 per cent in 2015.

They comprise 28 per cent of workers in STEM, up from 24 per cent in 2016.

As a scientist myself, I know first-hand the enormous benefits of understanding the key concepts and developments in science. A STEM education not only benefits your career, but also enriches your intellectual life.

Even if you don’t end up as a scientist – working in a lab, or on a boat, or on top of a mountain looking through a giant telescope – the skills you learn in science and engineering can be applied across all industries.

Patience, determination, a logical and inquiring mind, an ability to connect seemingly abstract ideas, accuracy and analytical skills will take you wherever you want to go in life.

We need to ask ourselves what is stopping young women and girls from entering STEM professions.

Junior high school girls study robotics in private school STEM class.

To do this we must focus on what is happening in the loungerooms and classrooms of Australia.

Teachers and parents must play a significant role in influencing or dispelling stereotypes in STEM education by changing the perception of what a scientist looks like.

They can tell stories or use images featuring female mathematicians or scientists to highlight the work of these women and make them more visible. If a child asked to imagine a scientist only pictures a man in a lab coat, where does that leave all the little girls with dreams of going into STEM?

Secondly, universities, schools and parents need to work in partnership with government, industry, teachers, schools and students to enhance and enrich science and engineering opportunities to support girls to move into real-world STEM careers.

We must recruit more women to the STEM disciplines at university and improve the rates at which we promote women and keep them working in STEM to eliminate the unacceptable gender gap.

These imperatives apply equally to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Island people, those living with disabilities, people born overseas and people from a whole host of other under-represented demographics.

Programs which aim to address the under-representation of women in STEM, such as those offered at primary and high schools, can help. Pairing mentors with students and encouraging them to work in the field, such as the Mabel Park State High School girls in STEM partnership with QUT, matches students with mentors and supports them to develop the skills they need to pursue STEM studies.

Thirdly, we need sufficient teachers who are qualified to teach STEM subjects in the early years to encourage participation and work on projects that will broaden and deepen students’ interest. Students need to be inspired while they are still at school, at a time in their academic development where they might be interested in maths and science and they are making decisions about their future.

Teachers can foster a growth mindset in students by emphasising that it’s practice rather than innate ability that improves performance.

If we work together on tackling the lack of females who have STEM careers, we can foster change with a much broader conversation about automatically and universally including women and marginalised people.

Professor Margaret Sheil is QUT vice-Chancellor