Despite the efforts of some companies which have imposed quotas to boost the number of female employees, federal statistics show women still make up only 20 per cent of the workforce in key scientific areas including engineering and IT.

A representative of the IBM corporation says while 35 per cent of the company’s staff are female it would not compromise its reputation or the quality of its research by employing women to meet an arbitrary quota. IBM Australia chief technologist and research director Glenn Wightwick says his company would love to see a 50-50 split of gender in the workplace.

Mr Wightwick said there are plenty of challenges, including the habit of some companies to rapidly promote female employees rather than letting them gain further valuable experience in the trenches: “One of the things I've noticed over the years in IT is when you see high potential in male and females, you see women directed to management roles and it can have an impact on their work or research careers,” Wightwick said.

Engineers Australia president Marlene Kanga called for greater diversity in the profession earlier this year, saying: “Unsupportive workplace cultures still result in half of women engineers leaving the profession by age 30 and the number remaining continues to fall in every decade thereafter, especially if women have children... while there is a focus to get girls interested in engineering, there is also a need for effective programs to genuinely support women to remain in the profession and build successful careers, balancing work and family life.”

IBM Technologist Glenn Wightwick said more women in all workplaces would be beneficial: “I wouldn't say that one is better than the other but diversity leads to far better outcomes and I could think of examples until the cows come home... men tend to be louder and dominate in meetings and communications and women tend to approach things differently... you end up with far better outcomes.”