Most popular university courses for women and men in Victoria

While many areas of study at Victorian universities are split down traditional male and female lines, there’s one field being embraced by more women than ever.

Young women today are being raised to ‘shoot for the moon’ when it comes to their careers.

And at one Victorian university, they are taking it literally.

Swinburne University has found females are gravitating to space-related studies more than traditional science and engineering courses, a trend it is working to nurture as the industry takes flight.

The number of females enrolling in its postgraduate courses in astronomy, for example, sits at around 22 per cent, higher than the national average of 17 per cent for women in science, Technology, Engineering and mathematics (STEM) disciplines.

Students are working on cutting-edge programs like sending teeth into space to test environmental impacts on tooth decay, and using astrophysics to better understand the maths behind diagnosing eye diseases.

Grace Lawrence turned her love of the stars into a PhD at Swinburne University. Picture: Swinburne

Among those embracing the space era are Grace Lawrence, 22, who has travelled to the US, Italy and Chile as part of her PhD at Swinburne’s Centre for Astrophysics and Supercomputing.

Grace grew up with a love of stargazing, and says she was supported throughout her schooling to chase her dream of studying astrophysics.

“I grew up in a small town and had an obsession with the stars, I used to star gaze with my dad as a child,” she says.

“I loved physics and maths at school and never had anything but support and encouragement to pursue science as a career.

“It’s such an exciting area to be in and I’ve never looked back.”

But when it comes to smashing gendered career choices, a new breakdown of university courses by sex reveals a less encouraging picture.

Grace’s studies have taken her across the globe.

Despite concerted campaigns to break down gender walls, many areas of study at Victorian institutions remain split down traditional male and female lines.

The analysis by the Good Education Group found ‘society and culture’ was most popular field choice in 2017 for both sexes — encompassing areas such as law, political science, economics and sport.

But health-related courses continued to be dominated by females, with more than 61,000 females enrolled in 2017, compared to just 21,000 males.

Education courses placed third in popularity for females with 32,273 enrolments but slid to sixth spot for males with 12,733 enrolments.

Management and commerce courses ranked second for males, and fourth for females, the data found, and male students outstripped females in fields such as engineering and IT.

So why do the differences in study preferences persist among the sexes — and what impact is it having?

Gender commentator Dr Leonora Risse was surprised by the lack of change in female enrolments in the face of efforts to balance the gender scales in areas like STEM, with the top five university courses for females remaining the same in 2008 and 2017.

She says gendered careered choices start early, with children influenced by wealth of factors including TV shows, advertising, books, toys and parents.

“There’s so much subtle messaging that is closing off career opportunities,” says Dr Risse, a vice-chancellor’s postdoctoral research fellow at RMIT.

“And we know that parents are often concerned about their daughters going into what they see as reliable occupations — those that offer good employment prospects, job security and a supportive working environment.

“Even though there’s been a massive shift towards promoting areas like STEM to females, many parents are still seeing these as male-dominated workplaces where there is potential for discrimination and bias against women — even in an unconscious way.”

She says it’s crucial for both males and females to feel confident about making non-traditional career choices, to pave the way for healthier workplaces.

“The pay gap between men and women is still going to exist as long as gender segregation remains,” she says.

Despite concerted campaigns to break down gender walls, many areas of study at Victorian institutions remain split down traditional male and female lines.

“And if you have a greater gender mix within any industry, occupation or team, you are going to get more robust outcomes, decision making and performance; and different perspectives and ideas. Having greater diversity allows for positive repercussions for the whole of society.”

Good Education Group head of product Ross White says the total number of female students continued to eclipse males at tertiary institutions — making up 59 per cent of enrolments — but the biggest growth areas were largely confined to traditional fields.

“Female enrolments overall have risen since 2008 however enrolments in heath — which is characterised by nursing, medicine, and specialised fields such as pathology and radiography — have been key to this overall growth,” he says.

“Male enrolments in health in 2017 rose significantly compared to 2008 but still represent approximately one quarter of the total.”

At Swinburne University, academic heads are encouraged by the spike in females reaching for the stars and have enhanced the space program offerings in 2019.

It is also working to attract more females into STEM in ways such as school outreach programs, including includes a partnership with Haileybury College students to design, build and send an experiment to the International Space Station.

Grace says her research involves using cutting-edge galaxy simulations to explore dark matter in galaxies similar to the Milky Way.

“I love the mystery of it, there’s something very alluring about it,” she says.

Deputy Vice-Chancellor Professor Duncan Bentley says he believes female leaders such as 2018 Australian of the Year Michelle Simmons, a quantum physicist, and Victorian Lead Scientist Dr Amanda Caples, were inspiring a new generation of young female scientists.

“We aim to leverage this to grow the numbers of female school leavers entering what is still a strongly male domain,” Prof Bentley says.

MORE EDUCATION NEWS

HOW TO COPE WITH STUDY STRESS

BEST AND WORST UNI SUBJECT AREAS FOR GETTING A JOB

But Professor of Astrophysics Sarah Maddison says increasing the number of women studying and working in STEM fields (science, Technology, Engineering, mathematics, and Medicine) remains a global challenge.

“While we are seeing more women studying in traditionally male-dominated programs, there has unfortunately not yet been a dramatic shift in numbers,” says Prof Maddison, Swinburne’s Pro Vice-Chancellor.

“Consistently opening doors to support women into non-traditional areas of study — as well as encouraging more men to study traditionally female-dominated programs — is important to increase and encourage diversity across the board. We know that gendered career choices start very early, and so we’re engaging in a number of outreach programs in primary and secondary schools to encourage more women to study STEM. We also know that role models are crucial, as you can’t be what you can’t see.”