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We’ve updated the STEM Equity Monitor for 2022.

The monitor is a national data resource on women’s and girls’ participation in science, technology, engineering and mathematics. It captures the state of STEM gender equity in Australia and measures changes and trends. You can use it to explore girls’ and women’s pathways of participation in STEM through school, higher education, graduation and the workforce. 

Women and girls are doing amazing things in science, technology, engineering and mathematics. But the roads they’ve travelled and their stories aren’t always visible. And it can be hard to see at what point women and girls’ representation drops off.

The STEM Equity Monitor is a national data resource on girls and women, and other underrepresented groups in STEM that sheds light on these issues.

It follows participation in STEM from primary and high school, higher education, graduation, through to the workforce and into leadership.

The monitor presents all of these stories through interactive data, which allows you to explore your area of interest, browse across different stages of the STEM pathway and tailor data to suit your needs. It even has case studies sharing peoples’ experiences in school and in their STEM field or career.

Check it out and explore this enormous data resource. Find out more about the STEM Equity Monitor at industry.gov.au/STEMEquityMonitor.

Highlights for 2022

This year’s edition includes the latest data for many of our equity measures. We’ve also added some new datasets and insights, like:

  • a longitudinal analysis of completion rates for undergraduates
  • how further study by university graduates impacts career outcomes
  • an analysis of STEM roles in publicly funded research agencies (PFRAs)
  • updated survey insights into youth attitudes and perceptions of studying and working in STEM
  • case studies sharing the real-life experiences of diverse women, girls and non-binary people in STEM.

The 2022 monitor shows some improvements for girls and women in STEM:

  • The proportion of girls who know which subjects make up STEM increased by 3 percentage points, growing from 64% in 2019–20 to 67% in 2021–22
  • The number of women enrolling in university STEM courses increased by 24% between 2015 and 2020.
  • The proportion of women in STEM-qualified occupations has increased by 2 percentage points, growing from 13% in 2020 to 15% in 2021.
  • The gender pay gap for full-time workers in STEM industries shrank from $28,994 in 2020 to $26,784 in 2021.

However, there is still a lot of work to do to achieve equal opportunity across Australia’s diverse populations to learn, work and engage in STEM.

  • Girls’ confidence in STEM subjects is generally lower than boys, and falls as they get older.
  • Women only make up 36% of enrolments in university STEM courses, and just 16% of enrolments in vocational STEM courses.
  • Women only make up 27% of the workforce across all STEM industries, a 1 percentage point drop from 2020.
  • Just 23% of senior management and 8% of CEOs in STEM-qualified industries are women.
  • On average, women still earn 18% less than men across all STEM industries.

The Australian Government will soon be reviewing its programs to increase the diversity of Australia’s science and technology sectors. This includes supporting pathways for women and girls in STEM.

The monitor tells an evolving story. We are publishing new data every year for 10 years from 2020 to provide a consistent evidence base.

Read the data report or explore the interactive data

More information

The minister announced the 2022 update of the monitor on 21 September 2022
The Advancing Women in STEM Strategy sets out the government’s commitment to increasing gender equity in STEM
The Women in STEM Decadal Plan offers a vision to 2030 and actions for the STEM sector to address gender inequity