Science careers and gender

Sir, – Hardly a week goes by without an article appearing in some newspaper or on some website bemoaning the lack of women in Stem (science, technology, engineering and mathematics). Last year I gave a talk to about 300 transition-year pupils who were spending a day here in Dublin City University. The audience was evenly split between boys and girls. I directed the following question to the boys: “How many of you would consider a career in nursing?” One hand was tentatively raised. – Yours, etc,

GREG FOLEY,

Associate Dean for Teaching

and Learning,

READ SOME MORE

Faculty of Science

and Health,

Dublin City University,

Dublin 9.