Against some popular impressions, the Faculty of Science has the most balanced gender distribution among students in the whole University of Helsinki. In 2019, 45% of new students admitted to the BSc programmes of the faculty were women (314 out of 703). The Faculty of Science wins this competition with a clear margin: the next faculties, Law and Theology, both admitted 37% men.

The fraction of female students used to be lower in recent years, between 34%-39%. In 2018, the number rose by 7% points to 44%. We are happy to see the balance getting even better this year! By the way, the Faculty of Science is the only faculty in the University of Helsinki where women still are a minority.

There obviously are differences between BSc programmes within the faculty. Physics has the best balance, with 43% women, followed by Math, Physics and Chemistry teacher students with 41% men. The fraction of women vs. men admitted to our BSc programmes are:

• Chemistry: 65% vs. 35%
• Geosciences: 64% vs. 36%
• Geography: 60% vs. 40%
• Math, Physics and Chemistry teacher: 59% vs. 41%
• Physics: 43% vs. 57%
• Mathematical Sciences: 39% vs. 61%
• Computer Science: 31% vs. 69%

Computer Science, although at the bottom of the list of the faculty, actually attracts increasing numbers of women: the number has more than doubled in the past four years, and is high in national and international comparison.

(The public statistics on student admission do not include the international BSc programme in Science.)