The STEM Equity Monitor reports on the state of STEM equity in Australia, and measures changes and trends over time.
The monitor is a trusted source of data for government, the education sector and researchers. It helps inform future policies and programs relevant to STEM and diversity.
The 2025 edition is expanded beyond gender to also include other diverse groups. This expansion aligns with the Pathway to Diversity in STEM Review recommendations.
You can now use the interactive dashboards to compare data on STEM across the diverse groups. Where available, this includes data on:
- gender diverse people
- First Nations people
- people with disability
- people from regional and remote locations
- culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) people
- people from areas of low socio-economic status.
This year the monitor also includes STEM insights from the 2021 Census. It allows users to explore data for intersectional groups, for example, First Nations women from regional and remote locations.
The data shows some improvements in diverse groups. For example:
- the number of First Nations people in STEM-qualified occupations increased 36% between 2012-13 and 2021-22
- the proportion of women in STEM-qualified occupations in remote or very remote locations increased from 8% to 11% between 2012-13 and 2021-22
- the proportion of university STEM enrolments from people with disability increased from 6% to 12% from 2015 to 2023
- the gap between women's and men's pay in STEM industries was 16% in 2024, down from 18% in 2021.
The monitor also includes data from YouthInsight on how parents and young people view recent advances in AI. It shows 86% of parents surveyed in 2024-25 believe AI will have a significant impact on their children's future career.
