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Do women in scientific fields face stereotypical treatment and bias in the industry? How can we encourage more women to take up a career in these areas?

The glass ceiling may well be societal. The years leading up to a doctorate, or the years immediately after - when people are 25-35 years old - tend to coincide with the child-bearing years.

These women drop out of their budding scientific careers to raise their young children.

The career deviation from men becomes starker when they are in their 40s to 50s, when professorship is considered.

HuiChing Hia


As so many studies have demonstrated, success in maths and the hard sciences, far from being a matter of gender, is almost entirely dependent on culture - a culture that teaches girls that maths isn't cool and no one will date them if they excel in physics; a culture in which professors rarely encourage their female students to continue on to advanced degrees; a culture in which success in graduate school is a matter of isolation, competition and ridiculously long hours in the lab; a culture in which female scientists are hired less frequently than men, earn less money and are allotted fewer resources.

Andrew Singh


Does the image of engineering jobs cause people to shun that industry? How can more students be encouraged to take up engineering?

Introduce a skills allowance and "deep skills" allowance for those who possess better and/or unique, specialised skills that others do not have. This will encourage engineers to focus and hone their skills.

Allan Tan

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A version of this article appeared in the print edition of The Straits Times on February 27, 2016, with the headline On Facebook. Subscribe