'We're still not quite there': Welsh scientists mark International Day of Women and Girls in Science

A leading researcher at Cardiff University has said increased flexible working is needed to encourage more females into science.

Professor Julie Williams, director of the Dementia Research Institute, said: "There are more women reaching higher levels in their career but we're still not quite there."

It comes on International Day of Women and Girls in Science, which aims to encourage more women and girls into STEM jobs science, technology, engineering and mathematics.

She also said: "It's looking at the challenges that women face and taking them into account when you're promoting or you're giving grants."

She added: "We tend to lose women mid-career and it usually coincides with having families. And women probably still shoulder more of the responsibility initially.

"It's getting better. A lot more males are taking responsibility and that's great. But we need to account of the fact that women may have career breaks."

• "I think attitudes are changing"

She said flexible working is key to encouraging more women into the industry - and the possibilities for this have been improved by the pandemic.

Professor Williams said: "You need to have more flexible working.

"In fact, the pandemic has helped us work more flexibly and we recognise you can still get the job done by working more flexibly."

Professor Williams is one of the UK's leading figures in Alzheimer's research and has previously been awarded a CBE for her work. TIME magazine also named her work as amongst their top 10 medical breakthroughs of 2009.

Her discovery of genes that predispose people to contracting Alzheimer's disease was recognised worldwide as a significant step forward in our understanding of the disease.

There have been significant steps forward in getting more women and girls into science in recent years. While the director of the Dementia Institute thinks more needs to be done to achieve parity, she said there are "fantastic" opportunities in the field.

• "We need to get more women into physics and engineering"

Dr Emma Yhnell from Cardiff University's School of Biosciences.

Currently working as a Senior Lecturer in School of Biosciences, Dr Yhnell said: "There's been lots of amazing work in Wales and further afield looking to get more women and girls into science subjects. We can see that's had a beneficial effect and more women and girls are choosing to study science at university."

But she too feels more needs to be done to achieve parity between women and men in science. Dr Yhnell explained that more focus should be on keeping senior women in leadership roles.

She warns that otherwise work already done to get women into STEM subjects could "go to waste."

• "We really need to retain the women and girls we have in those subjects"

She added: "I think science in particular has a bit of a reputation as maybe a topic or a subject which is very dominated by men, particularly white men as well. So, historically that has been the case. We are changing that but there's always more that we can do.

"I think it's very difficult to change that if you see a subject as something which isn't necessarily for somebody like you. So it is a case of providing role models and people within these subjects."