A simple equation is that science needs more girls

Glaxo Smith Kline vice-president, Bernadette Doyle’s love of science was nurtured in primary school by a nun who taught to learn through discovery, she tells Arlene Harris

SCIENCE has traditionally been a male endeavour. The stereotype of men in white coats poring over microscopes and petri-dishes hasn’t changed, though many women are at the forefront of scientific research.

TV programmes such as The Big Bang Theory, which depict female scientists, like the characters Amy and Bernadette, as ‘unhot’, don’t make science appealing to girls and significantly fewer female than male students are taking subjects such as applied maths and physics in their Leaving Certificate.