The Higher Education Authority (HEA) has just published (March 2022) an Info-Byte on “Females in STEM”. The purpose of these Info-Bytes is to provide a short / 5-minute read on a specific area of interest.
Some key findings:
Only 1 in 3 studying STEM subjects at third level identify as female
This gender gap is observed even prior to third level, at Leaving Certificate / secondary school
Certain fields within STEM have better female participation, such as Biology and Chemistry-related courses
Female participation in STEM has improved over the past 7 years, though much more needs to be done
In terms of employment outcomes for Masters Taught graduates, 1 in 4 male STEM graduates have “Engineer” in their job title versus 16% of female STEM graduates