Western Australia's Women in Science
Biographical Accounts
Susan Barker and Jennifer Barker
When the University of Western Australia (UWA) was established in 1913, Science was one of the inaugural Faculties. Between then and 1946, women were 28% (128/464) of all BSc graduates and 19% (8/43) of MSc graduates. PhDs were not offered by UWA, and of the 24 DSc degrees conferred, none were awarded to women. At that time there were no lecture fees, an important factor for all students compared to other Australian Universities. However other factors did affect women specifically. For example, at the academically elite Perth Modern School, girls were barred from studying chemistry, although physics and mathematics were open. At some other high schools, girls were guided into biology and foreign languages, that were taught respectively as alternatives to physics and chemistry, and some forms of mathematics. These factors provide a background to the biographies presented below, of women who were university students at the end of the second world war, a period which introduced considerable changes of attitude in society, although policies such as that Education not to employ married women in tenured positions lasted until at least the late 1960’s.
UWA statistics show that since the 1950s the percentage of women BSc graduates
has increased from 25% in the 1960s to 35% in the 1970s, 45% through the 1980s
to 47% in the 1990s. Similarly, actual numbers of both men and women increased
and during the last five years, of 2233 BSc graduates, 52% were female. In the
same period, 43% of MSc graduates and 41% of PhDs in science subjects were
women. How fully these changes translate into the workforce is beyond the
scope of this article. However we can speculate from our own family
experiences, that the children of this extra-ordinary post-WWII cohort will be
fully aware of the difference that women in science do make.
We thank Ms Justine McDermott, Archives and Central Records UWA and Mr Koon Quek, Planning Services UWA, for their enthusiastic assistance following our requests for information.