Why are there fewer women working in science than men? Things
have certainly improved, with participation in many branches of
science at undergraduate and graduate levels now broadly
balanced between the sexes. And yet by mid-career – as people
progress into their 30s – a serious gender gap starts to appear.
Climb the ladder to senior research positions and the disparity
deepens. Why is this the case? Shouldn’t we be trying to address
this issue? And, if so, how? The Conversation spoke with five
leading scientists to get their views. Cathy Foley (CSIRO):
Chief of material science and engineering division. Why is there
a gender gap in science? Only about 30% of people working in
science are women and that can go down to 5% in certain areas –
engineering in particular. There’s no single reason for this.
Firstly, there are practical reasons. Quite often women have
children and leave the workforce for a while. There are
currently no programs that allow female scientists to re-enter
the workforce where their skill