The more things change, the more they stay the same - young Australians and their gendered pathways into science careers

Abstract

Using the Longitudinal Survey of Australian Youth which followed students born around 1983 between 1998 and 2009, this paper explores gender segregation of educational and career pathways related to science. Science is often treated as one homogeneous field of study, but this leads to the loss of information about segregative forces which facilitate the concentration of men and women in its different areas. In this paper macro-cultural theories of gender essentialism, human capital theory which emphasizes the role of expected earnings and biased self-assessment theory are used to consider young people's science choices. I consider adolescent career preferences, their impact on subject choice in secondary and tertiary education and the subsequent career paths with the associated incomes. It appears that Australian women in this cohort have had few incentives, either material or cultural, to pursue careers in "quantitative science", i.e. Computing, engineering and math, as their preferences for biology and health-related science (or "life science") have been well matched by opportunities in the labor market.