Methodology

About the monitor

We released the first edition of the STEM Equity Monitor on International Women’s Day, 8 March 2020. This is the third edition, and we will update it annually until 2029.

The monitor provides national data on girls’ and women’s participation in and engagement with science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) across 4 stages of the pathway:

• primary and secondary school
• higher education
• graduation outcomes
• the workforce

It collects and standardises data from a range of sources and places them into a single publication.

Each data page provides interactive data visualisations and high-level observations from the data. Users can filter or reconfigure the interactive data so they can make their own observations. As the relevant issues are different for each stage of the pathway, data examined in each section is not comparable to other sections.

The monitor aims to help policy makers and the STEM sector understand where progress is being made. It can also show where they can focus future investment in programs and policies to drive greater gender equity in STEM.

Unless specifically indicated, significance testing has not been carried out on data in the monitor.

Acknowledgements

Our department would like to thank the following organisations, which contributed data to the STEM Equity Monitor:

• Australian Antarctic Division (AAD)
• Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS)
• Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority (ACARA)
• Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research (ACIAR)
• Australian Institute of Marine Science (AIMS)
• Australia’s Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation (ANSTO)
• Australian Public Service Commission (APSC)
• Australian Research Council (ARC)
• Bureau of Meteorology (BoM)
• Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO)
• Department of Education
• Defense and Science Technology Group (DSTG)
• Geoscience Australia (GA)
• National Centre for Vocational Education Research (NCVER)
• Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD)
• National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC)
• Social Research Centre
• YouthInsight (the research arm of Student Edge)
• Workplace Gender Equality Agency (WGEA)

We would also like to thank the Office of the Chief Scientist, Australia’s Women in STEM Ambassador (Professor Lisa Harvey-Smith), and all those who have contributed support and advice through the development of the monitor.

Data labelling for gender, women and men

The Australian Government recognises that some people identify as and are recognised in the community as either or both:

• a gender other than the biological sex they were assigned at birth or during infancy
• a gender which is neither or not exclusively woman or man.

That’s why we use the terms ‘gender’, ‘women’ and ‘men’ to identify the data in the monitor. These terms (and ‘girls’ and ‘boys’ for minors) encompass everyone who identifies as women/girls or men/boys, whether they be:

• cisgender (someone whose gender identity corresponds with the sex assigned at birth)
• transgender
• non-binary
• intersex.

Some data may have been collected and recorded by sex. However, recognising the government’s preferred approach to collect information by gender wherever possible (and for consistency) the terms ‘gender’, ‘women’ and ‘men’ will be used throughout.

Some data sources include information for people who don’t identify as a woman/girl or man/boy. This information is not shown in visualisations due to small sample sizes. This is stated on relevant pages.

View the Australian Government Guidelines on the Recognition of Sex and Gender.

STEM definitions

The monitor considers STEM to include the fields of science, technology, engineering and mathematics. This is consistent with the approach in Australia’s STEM Workforce report (Office of the Chief Scientist 2020). The monitor takes the Chief Scientist’s definition of STEM education fields, which is sourced from the Australian Standard Classification of Education (ASCED). It then matches these to research fields from the Australian and New Zealand Standard Research Classification (ANZSRC).

The monitor also uses qualifications in STEM education fields to define STEM-qualified occupations and STEM-qualified industries. The monitor considers an occupation or industry to be STEM-qualified if the majority of people in the occupation or industry reported a qualification in a STEM field of education in the 2016 Census of Population and Housing. However, the monitor also recognises that STEM-qualified graduates work in wide range of sectors across the workforce.

This Monitor does not include health in the definition of STEM. However, health is recognised as a closely related field that people with STEM qualifications may enter. It is often included in broader definitions of STEM. The monitor allows users to view health data in addition to STEM, so they can see the results for STEMM – science, technology, engineering, mathematics and medicine.

STEM fields of education and research

Education and research fields are defined by the Australian Standard Classification of Education (ASCED) and Australian and New Zealand Standard Research Classification (ANZSRC).

Consistent with the Australian STEM Workforce report (Office of the Chief Scientist 2020), the monitor’s STEM definition uses STEM education fields at the 2-digit level.

Source: Office of the Chief Scientist (2020)  

These are mapped across the Australian and New Zealand Standard Research Classification (ANZSRC) to determine the ‘STEM research fields’ definition.

* Note: Agricultural and Veterinary Science are reported together at the 2-digit level, but have been split at the 4-digit level to reflect the STEM (Agricultural Sciences) and Health (Veterinary Sciences) definitions. For the purposes of this report ‘Veterinary Sciences’ are included separately with Division 11 ‘Medical and Health Sciences’, reflecting the distinction made in the Australian Standard Classification of Education.

Source: ABS (2021)

STEM-qualified occupations

STEM-qualified occupations are defined by identifying occupation classes in which more than 50% of people reported a STEM qualification from VET or university (Table 3) in the 2016 Census of Population and Housing.

This method was developed with assistance from Office of the Chief Economist. Occupations are analysed using the Australian and New Zealand Standard Classification of Occupations (ANZSCO) at a 4-digit level. Data for this analysis was sourced from the ABS (2016) Census of Population and Housing.

This same methodology has been applied to classify the roles reported in the 2021 Australian Public Service (APS) Employee Census into STEM, health and non-STEM. For publicly funded research agencies, participating agencies defined which occupations in their agency were STEM, health and non-STEM. They based this either on our methodology or through a self-determined analysis. Agencies also aligned classification levels in the organisation to equivalent levels in the APS if they do not use standard APS classifications.

Some staff in senior positions may be described as being in management or leadership occupations, so may not be captured within STEM.

*Note: Based on highest qualification stated in ABS (2016).

The ANZSCO occupation ‘Actuaries, mathematicians and statisticians’ (code 2241) was included in the STEM occupation definition, even though it was not identified based on the description in Table 3. Only 35% of the people within this occupation declared a STEM qualification as their highest qualification. (Most people in this occupation had a non-STEM-qualification, ‘Management and Commerce) We decided to include this occupation class in the list of STEM occupations due to the core STEM skills required by those in this occupation.

Note: Occupations marked with ‘nfd’ (not further defined) denote responses and occupations which are not classified into the other defined categories by the ABS.

Source: ABS (2009)

Note: Occupations marked with ‘nfd’ (not further defined) denote responses and occupations which are not classified into the other defined categories by the ABS.

Source: ABS (2009)

Note: Occupations marked with ‘nfd’ (not further defined) denote responses and occupations which are not classified into the other defined categories by the ABS.

Source: ABS (2009)

STEM-qualified industries

STEM-qualified industries within the Australian and New Zealand Standard Industry Classification (ANZSIC) are defined by identifying industries in which the majority (more than 50%) of people in these industries report a STEM qualification from VET or university (Table 3) in the 2016 Census of Population and Housing.

The ANZSIC industry of ‘Architectural, Engineering and Technical Services’ (code 692) was included in the STEM industry definition, even though it was not identified based on the description in Table 3. Only 40% of the people within this industry declared holding a STEM qualification as their highest qualification. This is due to the inclusion of the ‘Architectural Service Industry’ under this code which does not meet the definition of a STEM-qualified industry. However, there are 4-digit code industries classified under ‘Architectural, Engineering and Technical Services’ that meet the definition of STEM-qualified industries. These include:

• 6922 Surveying and Mapping Services
• 6923 Engineering Design and Engineering Consulting Services
• 6925 Scientific Testing and Analysis Services

We made the decision to include ‘Architectural, Engineering and Technical Services’ in the list of STEM industries due to the recognition of the core STEM skills required, as shown by the 4-digit industries within it.

Six ‘not further defined’ (nfd) industries were also identified through this process. Data is not collected for these so has not been included in the monitor.

Three additional industries, ‘Forestry Support Services’ (code 051), ‘Iron and Steel Forging’ (code 221) and ‘Electricity Transmission’ (code 262) also do not have data available. This is due to insufficient sample sizes of organisations within these industries that reported to the Workplace Gender Equality Agency (WGEA).

Source: ABS (2013)

Source: ABS (2013)

Health fields

We include ‘health’ fields in the monitor, but they are reported separately from STEM fields. They are recognised as fields that rely heavily on the application of STEM skills and knowledge but do not fit within the classification of STEM as defined in the monitor.

Health education (ASCED ‘Health’ classification – Code 06) was used to determine research fields (see Table 7) and health-qualified occupations and industries. These are defined as those where 50% or more of the workforce report a ‘Health’ (ASCED code 06) qualification in the 2016 Census of Population and Housing (see tables 6 to 9). This follows the same methodology as prescribed for STEM-qualified occupations and industries.

Where possible, health data is presented in the interactive data to enable comparison to STEM data and combination with STEM to present ‘STEMM’ (science, technology, engineering, mathematics and medicine) results.

It is important to note that data regarding researchers working in health or non-STEM fields of research (as defined by the monitor) does not indicate that they do not hold STEM qualifications or are not working in a STEM occupation.

These fields report notably different demography and pathways for women. Data on women’s participation in health fields (across education, research, occupations and industries) are captured and reported on in a separate category. This is to provide evidence for, and greater understanding of, the differences and relationships between these fields and STEM fields.

Additionally, ARC includes ‘Medical and health sciences’ (Division 11) and ‘Psychology and cognitive sciences’ (Division 17) in their definition of STEM. Therefore, their data and reporting may not be comparable with collated numbers provided here.

Source: ABS (2001)

*Note: Agricultural and Veterinary Science are reported together at the 2-digit level, but have been split at the 4-digit level to reflect the STEM (‘Agricultural Sciences’) and Health (‘Veterinary Sciences’) definitions.

Source: ABS (2008)

Source: ABS (2009)

Source: ABS (2009)

Source: ABS (2009)

Source: ABS (2013)

Data sources

Attorney General’s Department (AGD) (2015) Australian government guidelines on the recognition of sex and gender, AGD, Australian Government, accessed 13 January 2022.

Australian Antarctic Division (AAD) (unpublished) (2022) Research workforce by type of work, gender, and classification levels, data set provided to the Australian Government Department of Industry, Science, Energy and Resources, accessed 1 February, 2022.

Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) (2021) ‘EQ08 – Employed persons by occupation unit group of main job (ANZSCO), sex, state and territory, August 1986 onwards’ [data table], Labour Force, Australia, Detailed, Quarterly, November, cat. no. 6291.0.55.003, ABS website, Australian Government, accessed 16 January 2021.

Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) (2016) Census of Population and Housing, ABS, Australian Government, accessed 13 January 2022.

—— (unpublished) Women in STEM longitudinal analysis of the 2011 higher education cohort, analysis provided to the Australian Government Department of Industry, Science, Energy and Resources, ABS, Australian Government, accessed 22 January 2021.

——  Women in STEM longitudinal analysis of the 2011 higher education cohort and Completion rate analysis of the 2012–16 Cohort, analysis provided to the Australian Government Department of Industry, Science, Energy and Resources, ABS, Australian Government, accessed 7 December 2021

Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority (ACARA) 2021, National Assessment Program – Literacy and Numeracy (NAPLAN) Achievement in Reading, Writing, Language Conventions and Numeracy: National Report for 2021, ACARA, Sydney, accessed 15 December 2021.

Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research (ACIAR) (unpublished) (2022) Research workforce by type of work, gender, and classification levels, data set provided to the Australian Government Department of Industry, Science and Resources, ACIAR, Australian Governement, accessed 1 February, 2022.

Australian Institute of Marine Science (AIMS) (unpublished) (2022) Research workforce by type of work, gender, and classification levels, data set provided to the Australian Government Department of Industry, Science and Resources, AIMS, Australian Government, accessed 1 February, 2022.

Australia’s Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation (ANSTO) (unpublished) (2022) Research workforce by type of work, gender, and classification levels, data set provided to the Australian Government Department of Industry, Science and Resources, ANSTO, Australian Government, accessed 1 February, 2022.

Australian Public Service Commission (APSC) (unpublished) (2021) APS employee census by type of work, gender, and classification levels, data set provided to the Australian Government Department of Industry, Science and Resources, APSC, Australian Government, accessed 11 October 2021.

Australian Research Council (ARC) (unpublished) Gender outcomes: NCGP trend data, data set provided to the Australian Government Department of Industry, Science and Resources, ARC, Australian Government, accessed 12 January 2021.

ARC (Australian Research Council) (2018) Gender and the research workforce – excellence in research for Australia (ERA) 2018, accessed 12 February 2020.

—— (2022) (unpublished) Gender outcomes: NCGP trend data, data set provided to the Australian Government Department of Industry, Science, Energy and Resources, ARC, accessed 12 January 2021. Bureau of Meteorology (BoM) (unpublished) (2022) Research workforce by type of work, gender, and classification levels, data set provided to the Australian Government Department of Industry, Science and Resources, BoM, Australian Government, accessed 1 February, 2022.

Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) (unpublished) (2022) Research workforce by type of work, gender, and classification levels, data set provided to the Australian Government Department of Industry, Science and Resources, CSIRO, Australian Government, accessed 1 February, 2022.

Defence Science and Technology Group (DSTG) (unpublished) (2022) Research workforce by type of work, gender, and classification levels, data set provided to the Australian Government Department of Industry, Science and Resources, DSTG, Department of Defence, Australian Government, accessed 1 February, 2022.

Department of Education, Skills and Employment (DESE) (unpublished) Research staff by field of education, duty classification and year,  data set provided to the Australian Government Department of Industry, Science and Resources, DESE, Australian Government, accessed 24 February 2021.

—— (unpublished) Research staff by field of education, duty classification and year, data set provided to the Australian Government Department of Industry, Science, Energy and Resources, DESE, Australian Government, accessed 9 March , 2022.

—— (unpublished) ‘VET enrolments and completions by gender and year and field of education’, data set provided to the Australian Government Department of Industry, Science, Energy and Resources, NCVER, accessed 15 November 2021.

Geoscience Australia (unpublished) (2022) Research workforce by type of work, gender, and classification levels, data set provided to the Australian Government Department of Industry, Science and Resources, Geoscience Australia, Australian Government, accessed 1 February, 2022.

National Centre for Vocational Education Research (NCVER)  (unpublished) VET enrolments and completions by gender and year and field of education, data set provided to the Australian Government Department of Industry, Science and Resources, NCVER, accessed 15 November 2021.

National Centre for Vocational Education Research (NCVER) (unpublished) Income data, data set provided to the Australian Government Department of Industry, Science, Energy and Resources, NCVER, accessed 17 February 2021.

—— (2021) ‘Total VET student outcomes 2016–2020’ [data set], VOCSTATS, NCVER website, accessed 17 February 2021.

Social Research Centre (2020) ‘Graduate Outcomes Survey (GOS) 2020 National Tables’ [data set], Graduate Employment, Quality Indicators for Learning and Teaching (QILT) website, accessed 13 January 2021.

—— (unpublished) Skill utilisation, data set provided to the Australian Government Department of Industry, Science and Resources, Social Research Centre, accessed 4 January 2021.

NHMRC (National Health and Medical Research Council) (unpublished) Research funding statistics and data, data set provided to the Australian Government Department of Industry, Science and Resources, NHMRC, Australian Government, accessed 7 January 2021.

OECD (Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development) (2020) Mathematics performance (PISA) (indicator), doi: 10.1787/04711c74-en, accessed on 30 January 2020.

—— (2020) Reading performance (PISA) (indicator), doi: 10.1787/79913c69-en, accessed on 30 January 2020.

—— (2020) Science performance (PISA) (indicator), doi: 10.1787/91952204-en, accessed on 30 January 2020.

Office of the Chief Scientist (OCS) (2020) Australia’s STEM workforce, OCS, Australian Government, accessed 13 January 2022.

Office of the Chief Scientist (2020) Australia’s STEM workforce, OCS, Australian Government, accessed 13 January 2022.

Social Research Centre (2020) ‘Graduate Outcomes Survey (GOS) 2020 national tables’ [data set], Graduate employment, Quality Indicators for Learning and Teaching(QILT) website, accessed 16 December2021.

—— (unpublished) Income data, data set provided to the Australian Government Department of Industry, Science, Energy and Resources, Social Research Centre, accessed 16 December 2021.

—— (unpublished) Training relevance data, data set provided to the Australian Government Department of Industry, Science, Energy and Resources, Social Research Centre, accessed 16 December 2021.

—— (unpublished) Employment status data, data set provided to the Australian Government Department of Industry, Science, Energy and Resources, Social Research Centre, accessed 16 December 2021.

Workplace Gender Equality Agency (WGEA) (unpublished) WGEA data 2021, data set provided to the Australian Government Department of Industry, Science and Resources, WGEA, Australian Government, WGEA, Australian Government, accessed 6 March 2022.

YouthInsight (2021), 2021 Youth in STEM Report, report to the Australian Government Department of Industry, Science, Energy and Resources, Student Edge, accessed 18 November, 2021.

——  (2021) 2020–21 STEM Influencer – Teacher and career adviser survey, report to the Australian Government Department of Industry, Science, Energy and Resources, YouthInsight, accessed 25 March 2021.

—— (2021) 2020–21 STEM Influencer – Parents survey, report to the Australian Government Department of Industry, Science, Energy and Resources, YouthInsight, accessed 25 March 2021.

—— (unpublished) 2020–21 STEM Influencer – Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander educator survey, report to the Australian Government Department of Industry, Science, Energy and Resources, YouthInsight, accessed 25 March 2021.

—— (2020) 2019–20 Youth in STEM survey, report to the Australian Government Department of Industry, Science, Energy and Resources, YouthInsight, accessed 26 March 2020.

Additional resources

These resources include explanatory notes on source data and definitions.

Australian Academy of Science (AAS) (2019) Women in STEM: Decadal plan, AAS, Australian Government, accessed 29 January 2020.

Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) (2001) Australian Standard Classification of Education (ASCED), 2001, cat no. 1272.0, ABS, Australian Government, accessed 6 February 2020.

—— (2013) Australian and New Zealand Standard Industrial Classification (ANZSIC), 2006 (revision 2.0), cat no. 1292.0, ABS, Australian Government, viewed 6 February 2020.

—— (2021)  Australian and New Zealand Standard Classification of Occupations (ANZSCO), 2021 cat no. 1220.0, ABS, Australian Government, accessed 23 November 2021.

—— (2008) Australian and New Zealand Standard Research Classification (ANZSRC), cat no. 1297.0, ABS, Australian Government, accessed 6 February 2020.

—— (2016) Census of Population and Housing, ABS, Australian Government, accessed 29 October 2019.

Attorney General’s Department (AGD) (2015) Australian government guidelines on the recognition of sex and gender, AGD, Australian Government, accessed 24 September 2019.

AlphaBeta (2018) Digital innovation report: Australia’s $315b opportunity, report to the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation’s (CSIRO’s) Data 61, CSIRO, Australian Government, accessed 29 January 2020.

Australian Public Service Commission (APSC) (2021) Australian public service employee census explanatory guide, APSC, Australian Government, accessed 11 October 2021.

—— (2020) APS employee census 2021 – Participant information, APSC, Australian Government, accessed 11 October 2021.

Department of Industry, Innovation and Science (2019) Advancing women in STEM, Department of Industry, Science, Energy and Resources, Australian Government, accessed 29 January 2020.

Department of Industry, Science, Energy and Resources (2020) Advancing women in STEM: Action plan, Department of Industry, Science, Energy and Resources, Australian Government, accessed 6 December 2020.

Office of the Chief Scientist (OCS) (2020) Australia’s STEM workforce, OCS, Australian Government, accessed 6 December 2020.

—— (2016) Australia’s STEM workforce, OCS, Australian Government, accessed 29 January 2020.

Social Research Centre (2019) Study areas, Quality Indicators for Learning and Teaching (QILT) website, accessed 15 December 2019.

Thomson S, De Bertoli L, Underwood C, Schmid M (2019) Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) 2018: Reporting Australia’s results, volume 1 student performance, ACER (Australian Council for Educational Research), accessed 12 December 2019.