The Government is putting €1 million into a scheme to tackle the low numbers of women in Irish science and engineering research jobs, it was announced today.
The money will be used to fund initiatives to reverse the loss of women from scientific and technological research, Minister Micheal Martin said today.
The Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment was speaking at the launch of Science Foundation Ireland's (SFI) three new programmes to address the under-representation of women in science and engineering research.
He said that at Leaving Certificate level, more girls than boys were studying science, particularly biology, and at postgraduate level 50 per cent of positions in science, mathematics and computing PhD places in Ireland were occupied by women.
"However, this equilibrium is not maintained in the workplace and higher up the career ladder we find a serious gender imbalance in the scientific research, education and industrial sectors.
"This is what is referred to as the "leaky pipeline" - the loss of talented female academic and industrial researchers," the minister said.
"The issue is not simply a matter of equality - ensuring that all careers are open to men and women alike - but also one of ensuring that there are sufficient numbers of researchers in science, engineering and technology to support the knowledge-based economy the Government has committed to building.
The minister said there was a "clear and unequivocal business case" for increasing the participation of women in science, engineering and technology in Ireland.
The three new awards launched by SFI are designed to encourage more women to take up posts in science and technology research.
The first - the principal investigator career advancement award - gives a woman returning to work, for example after maternity leave, up to €200,000 a year for three years to undertake research.
In addition they can apply for an extra year's funding to give them time to get back into research.
Mary Kelly, scientific programme officer for SFI, said it was important to give people the opportunity to get into scientific research.
The second scheme is the institute planning grant and development award which gives research bodies opportunities to investigate and develop ways to give women the opportunity to fulfil their scientific potential.
The third, which is being launched in the autumn, aims to identify and encourage more high-achieving girls into third level education and to support them during their undergraduate career.