Australia’s physicists will hear today that they’re still losing the fight for gender equity in the physical sciences.
International and national speakers at the national physics congress in Canberra today will reveal:
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Australian schoolgirls still prefer life sciences to physical sciences (chemistry, physics etc) – with a 2:1 ratio
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At university that worsens to 4:1 locking out women from many career options
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The proportion of women in senior science positions is improving at just 1 per cent per annum, and going backwards in lower levels.
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UK physicists are fixing the problem with Project Juno. Could Australia follow them?
There are also some remarkable role models of women in physics speaking at the conference including: string theory guru Lisa Randall, SKA astronomer Lisa Harvey-Smith, Bronwyn Dolman studying weather and footballers’ hamstrings; Elisabetta Barberio looking for dark energy in a gold mine; quantum computing guru Michelle Simmons and many others. [Read more…] about Women in physics still going backwards