How our students are taking action on gender equality and diversity in STEM

According to the Department of Industry, Science and Resources 2022 STEM Equity Monitor, women in Australia only make up 27 percent of the workforce across science, engineering, technology and maths (SETM) industries, and 36 percent of all enrolments in university STEM courses. 

While the 2022 STEM Equity Monitor report demonstrates improvements have been made to gender diversity in STEM in recent years, including the number of women enrolled in university STEM courses and proportion of women in STEM-qualified occupations, there's still a lot of work to be done to achieve equal opportunity for women and diverse genders to work, learn and engage with STEM. 

In response to the findings of the report, the Australian government has ensured it will review its programs and initiatives to increase the diversity of Australia's science and technology sectors, including supporting pathways for women and girls in STEM. 

In 2021, a group of University students in maths sought to take decisive action towards achieving gender equity in STEM and founded the Women and Diverse Genders in Maths Society (WAMSOC).

Sophie, President and co-founder of WAMSOC and Bachelor of Economics student majoring in Economics and Maths, explains that the society grew out of a mentoring program for women and gender-diverse students by the School of Mathematics and Statistics. 

"A group of four of us were in a mentoring group together and we just saw this lack of representation, but also how beneficial the mentoring groups were," she says.

"We wanted to extend that to be available to more students, and extend that community base and support to create a welcoming environment for any student."

Tamara, Events Coordinator at WAMSOC and Bachelor of Science student majoring in Computer Science and Maths, says lack of female and diverse gender representation in STEM and sexism restrict women and gender-diverse people's access to work, learn and engage with STEM. 

"Preventers can be lack of representation, because if you don't see someone in that position it's incredibly hard to see yourself in that, and other preventers can be more nuanced and subtle. For example, offhanded comments to women from cisgender men like 'maths is really hard'," they say. 

Sophie adds that representation, or lack thereof, can influence whether people believe they have the skills or ability to participate in STEM-related programmes. 

"In advanced maths programs, for example, there's usually very little representation of women, which then leads to very little women applying to those programmes for lack of self-belief – it all comes back to representation," she says. 

Cyrilla, General Executive at WAMSOC and Bachelor of Science & Masters in Mathematical Sciences student, says gatekeeping of resources, such as funding and access to research, in STEM also plays a role in preventing women and gender-diverse people's access to those industries.

"I feel like quite a lot of these issues can be explained by allocation of resources, because the people who already have those resources naturally don't want others to have them," she says.

For Tamara, WAMSOC's very existence is an important step towards gender equity and diversity in STEM degrees at University because it fosters a safe and inclusive environment for women and gender-diverse students to explore and participate in STEM.

"Having a space to connect with other women in maths is really beneficial – it makes your degree easier and it makes you more inclined to continue," they say. "The fact that we've created this space – it makes it easier to be in a male-dominated degree." 

For Cyrilla, fostering an inclusive and diverse STEM community on campus not only positively affects women and gender-diverse students at University, but can have a positive impact on the STEM community at large. 

"Women and gender-diverse people can provide different insights to that of cisgendered men," they say. "With an array of diverse insights, we can then tackle more problems." 

To raise awareness about the challenges women and gender-diverse people face in working, learning and engaging with STEM, and to support students studying STEM at University, WAMSOC hosts a range of events and activities throughout the year, including hosting speaking events featuring female and diverse gendered academics across STEM and economics, organising professional networking events and social events like picnics, and hosting study sessions. 

"Our society is only on the small side, but I think that's a nice aspect of it," says Sophie. "It's not so big that when you turn up to an event, you don't recognise anyone, and it's a good mix of different groups as well."

Find out more about WAMSOC through their Facebook page or by emailing their executive team: wamsoc.usyd@gmail.com.