I've got a degree in chemistry. Our class of 38 pupils (55 if you count the 17 people on the pharm. chem. course) was about 50-50 male/female. However, we had only two female lecturers. Both were doctors (though one was promoted to assistant professor in our final year). So I think that perhaps discrimination had a part to play in years gone by, but not so much any more. In Ireland, for instance, there was a time - not that long ago - when women were simply not allowed to do honours ("hard") maths - the kind you really need if you're going to go on and do physics.

These days, I work in a lab with six other people. All are female except one. Our qualifications are in environmental science, and chemistry. Our two immediate superiors are also women. One's an environmental scientist and the other is a chemist. However, their supervisors - the senior engineer and the DoS - are men. Interesting.