CSIRO's Materials Science and Engineering Chief, Cathy Foley, Pleads for More Women in "Hard" Science. (May 25, 2013)

“As soon as you take your foot off the accelerator trying to create initiatives and excitement, things just go back down again,” Cathy Foley, the head of CSIRO's Materials Science and Engineering division told Brisbane Times Natalie Bochenski.

Dr Foley continued: “The number of people doing physics is dropping altogether, but the number of girls in particular is dropping at an alarming rate. That means your pipeline from day one – which is people making the decision from Year 10 into Year 11 – they're choosing not to do science, which means fewer of them will be able to go on to do science at a university level.”

And Ms Bochenski notes that: "In Queensland, 1494 girls graduated from Year 12 physics in 2012, compared with 4311 boys. More than 470 boys passed Engineering Technology compared with 32 girls. Girls did better in chemistry, with about 100 more passing than boys; while in biology girls outnumbered boys by almost 4000."

Dr Foley emphasised that cultural change was needed to ensure women stayed in scientific employment through their 30s, even though child-rearing and part-time work limited their options: “There's still things [said] like 'if you're a real scientist, you won't work part-time', and I'm still hearing that now, and that's outrageous.”

But she also pointed out that resourcing at the high school level, coupled with engaged teachers, was key to boosting the number of women working in science: “If you look at the schools that have lots of girls doing science and maths, it's a culture in the school, and it's often to do with the passion of the teachers and letting that passion come through.”