Key Points
- Australian high school science courses fail to mention the contributions of women in STEM, a new study has found.
- It found 150 male scientists mentioned across state curricula, compared to only one female scientist.
- But researchers say just adding more female scientists to curricula won't fix the problem.
Marie Curie seems like an obvious person to mention in a physics syllabus section on radioactivity.
After all, the pioneering researcher discovered radium and polonium and is the only person to win a Nobel Prize in two sciences.
But when Australian scientist and researcher Kat Ross was training teachers for a physics syllabus in 2018, she was stunned to learn there was no mention of Curie in the radioactivity section of the NSW high school syllabus.
“She basically discovered radioactivity, and she even coined the term radioactive,” Dr Ross told SBS News.
“I was like, ‘This seems like a bit of an oversight. I wonder, who else isn't mentioned here?’”
How researchers uncovered 'gender bias' in the curriculum
That curiosity led Dr Ross, from Curtin University’s International Centre for Radio Astronomy Research, to look further into the lack of women scientists in the state-by-state syllabuses.
Dr Ross was initially shocked and then in “despair” about what she, along with seven other researchers, discovered.
“Across Australia there are around 150 male scientists mentioned. And there's only one female scientist that’s mentioned at all,” Dr Ross says.
Dr Kat Ross was disheartened by a study that found only one female scientist was mentioned in the year 11 and year 12 science curricula. Credit: ICRAR
Only one female scientist – British chemist Rosalind Franklin – was named in coursework in Queensland, South Australia and the Northern Territory. All others referenced only male scientists.
The report's authors say this “clear gender bias” contributes to the low engagement of women in scientific fields.
For Dr Ross, the omission appeared to be a “complete undervaluing” of the work of women in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM).
“I've gone through a system that's never appreciated me and continues to under-appreciate women.
"How can you maintain motivation with that when it just doesn't feel like you should be there?"
Cultural diversity of scientists also lacking
Another issue identified by the study is an almost exclusive focus on European discoveries in the curriculum.
It found almost all of those scientists mentioned across the curricula in Australia were of European or North American background.
“This approach not only results in the lack of education on contributions from other geographical, ethical, and cultural areas but also reinforces a warped pedagogy of learning complex concepts via the chronological order of discovery,” the study said.
The researchers said this "negatively impacts students from culturally and linguistically diverse communities and contributes to their lower levels of self-confidence and belonging".
So what is being done about this?
Dr Ross said she’s working with Queensland curriculum developers on addressing the issue.
“We're working with them and giving them feedback and already they've had huge improvements.”
While the researchers behind the study, which was conducted as part of the IncludeHer movement, have curated a list of women scientists they recommend adding to the syllabus, they argue this won't be a "complete solution".
Rather, they argue the system that enforces a narrative in which scientific discovery is made by the "lone male genius" needs to be reviewed.
Dr Ross points out that the syllabus in younger high school years does mention Australian scientists Fiona Wood and Marie Stoner and their work on artificial skin.
She says the omission of women scientists may be accidental.
“It's probably coming from a place of unconscious bias,” she said.
“But now that we see it, I think it's intentional if we leave it this way.”
SBS News has contacted the Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority for comment.
