“On this International Day, I urge commitment to end bias, greater investments in science, technology, engineering and math education for all women and girls as well as opportunities for their careers and longer-term professional advancement so that all can benefit from their ground-breaking future contributions.”

— UN Secretary-General, António Guterres

Today, February 11th, is the United Nations nominated day to celebrate and encourage careers in areas of science, technology and mathematics. These are areas that are still widely underrepresented by females in all levels, and the day aims to inspire and support girls and women of all ages to follow their interests regardless of what they are. Traditionally certain jobs were restricted based on gender (engineers only being male, nurses only being female), and this has certainly changed in recent times.

We are currently an all-female team at Alphington Dental Care, and we pride ourselves on being able to provide gentle, effective, and thorough treatment in all aspects of dental care. But no so many years ago it was difficult for women to find employment in the dental field beyond that of receptionists and/or dental nurses. It is fantastic to see this has changed, and currently the numbers of female dentists and therapists graduating each year is right on par with the number of males.

We hope that inequalities in opportunity to pursue certain careers continue to be a thing of the past. Only good can come of bright minds being able to follow their dreams, and we take this time to acknowledge all those women working hard in science based occupations to change our world for the better.