Increasing number of children view scientists as women

The traditional image of a scientist is undergoing a 21st-century gender shift after a new study found that children are drawing more women scientists than in previous decades.

Researchers at Northwestern University, US, analysed five decades worth of ‘Draw A Scientist’ tests, and noticed that in the 1960s and 1970s, less than one per cent of children drew a women, the BBC reports.

By the 1980s and present day, this leapt to 28 per cent, but children remain considerably more likely to draw a male figure when asked to depict a scientist.

As of 2013, women accounted for almost half of biological scientists, more than a third of chemists and more than a tenth of physicists and astronomers in the United States.

Despite this significant rise in women's representation in science, it remains the case that girls draw 58 per cent of scientists as men on average, rising to 96 per cent amongst boys.

David Miller, the study's lead author, believes this male bias is a reflection of children’s environment.

“Given the underrepresentation of women we observe in several science fields, we shouldn't expect equal numbers. Encouragingly though, we can see that children's stereotypes change over time.”

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