Stylists beat scientists in girls’ career choices

Schools push STEM, but it’s a hard sell for girls who prefer fashion.

Elena Douglas,CEO, Knowledge Society. Picture: Aaron Francis/The Australian

Science may offer great jobs but with so many young women keen to be fashion stylists, it’s an uphill battle to get them into STEM, according to a leading education commentator, Elena Douglas.

“Role models are really important and what is captivating the imagination of young people now is not necessarily science and technology,” Douglas tells a special panel convened to celebrate International Women’s Day on Tuesday.

“The latest research on what the most desired job of young women is, is being a stylist. So we’ve got really big trends to deal with that have nothing to do with how good jobs are in science.”

Douglas, who is the CEO of consultancy Knowledge Society, says that Australian schools must focus on teaching maths, including the times tables, from the earliest years if we want to compete globally.

“Science and technology work as a pipeline,” she says. “You have to have been super good at times tables and fractions and basic maths in primary school, so that when you get to high school maths is fun and interesting.

“And we have a real problem in our primary schools. Maths is slipping a lot. So that means there are fewer kids who will feel happy doing maths in high school, and that translates into STEM, certainly into engineering and lots of fields.”

Kate Pounder, CEO of the Tech Council of Australia, tells the panel that there are “amazing role models” in Australia, including the chair of the council, Robyn Denholm, who is the chair of Tesla globally, and Mel Perkins, CEO of Canva.

“We have these incredible examples in Australia of women who have conquered the world and built amazing companies,” she says. “I’d love to see more girls wanting to grow up and be Robyn Denholm, and Mel Perkins – in addition to a stylist perhaps.

“There’s lots of ways you can feel that passion for creativity and style and design. We have a member (of the Tech Council) like The Iconic, which employs 1500 people, including people who are stylists but also data scientists, people who are building the platform, software engineers.

“So you could still have that career you love around style, but do it for an amazing online commerce retailer.”

Danielle Mesa, chief people officer, BAE Systems Australia, says that even at a really young age girls are confronted with stereotypes and biases around science from family, school, and the curriculum. Instead of seeing STEM as a narrow curriculum, it should be recognised as spanning many different subject areas.

“It is really enabled by critical thinking and analysis and problem solving and creativity, “ she says. “I think at an education level, we miss some of that.”

Special Report for International Women’s Day: Women in Education in The Australian Tuesday, March 8.