When you think of scientists in popular culture, who comes to mind? Maybe it’s Bill Nye, Leonard and Sheldon from The Big Bang Theory, Stephen Hawking, or Bruce Banner from the Marvel franchise. Or maybe you think of Dr Jane Foster from Thor or Scully from The X-Files. More likely than not the image that comes to mind is of a white male scientist.

The Australian Federal Government recognised achieving gender equality in STEM as a key component of its 2016 National Innovation and Science Agenda. This was seen in the support and implementation of two national programmes looking to tackle the issue of gender equality.

One of the greatest struggles in the push for gender equity in STEM is the ongoing attempt to fix the “leaky pipeline.” For newcomers to the area, the leaky pipeline refers to the alarmingly low retention rates of female-identifying people as they advance through the levels of academia and industry achievement- or, more precisely, as they don’t.

It’s an all-too-common scenario to most of us- sitting in a tutorial, listening and learning (or trying to), only to find that any opportunity to ask questions or to provide answers is snatched up by the same person each time. So how can we change the classroom dynamic that is such a broadly applied part of our university culture? How do we improve gender equity at ANU?