Negative perceptions ‘hold girls back from science subjects’

Stereotypes and negative perceptions are holding girls back from science and technology subjects and careers they know to be well paid and rewarding, a survey showed.

Almost half of the 567 girls and young women surveyed in April believe science, technology, engineering and maths subjects match male careers, and more than one-in-four think they fit boys’ brains, personalities and hobbies.

However, 80% of the same group believe studying those subjects create a lot of career opportunities. Most associated the chance to invent new products or services, to cure diseases and to earn high salaries with working in the sector.

Paula Neary, client director at Accenture Ireland which publishes the findings today, said many barriers persist to young women taking up these subjects.

“Many of these are based on unfounded perceptions and stereotypes which we need to tackle so that females aren’t putting up unnecessary barriers to exciting career prospects,” she said.

The difficulty of a school subject also influences uptake, with just under half of girls saying science and maths are too difficult to learn. While biology is the science, technology, engineering and maths subject most girls and women would prefer to study, chosen by 43% followed by maths and computer science (38% and 37%), physics is the least popular.

The finding reflects somewhat the situation at Leaving Certificate, in which physics is taken by fewer than 2,000 females this year, compared to 5,800 male candidates.

However, almost 21,000 girls are entered for biology, 1.5 times the number of boys who were down to sit last week’s exam. There are also more female than males for Leaving Certificate chemistry — 4,735 compared to 3,869 took the subject in 2014.

The findings show there has been no change in the views of girls and young women since Accenture had a similar survey done in 2013, and the results were published early last year. In the latest research, 189 girls 11 to 18, and 378 women 19 to 23 were surveyed online.

More than half of them believe work experience in companies that use science, technology, engineering and maths skills and more information about what careers they can lead to would be the best ways to improve the popularity of related subjects in schools.

Around two-thirds of girls and young women picked job enjoyment and earnings potential as the biggest influence on career choices, followed by own interests.

One-third of more than 40 parents, who have daughters in second-level education, said they are not informed on the different career opportunities for their daughters.

Skills, Research and Innovation Minister Damien English encouraged companies to partner with the Government and industry on its Smart Futures initiative to change perceptions of these subjects and provide access to careers information and role models for second-level students.