{"id":742467,"date":"2026-06-17T14:08:13","date_gmt":"2026-06-17T14:08:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/742467\/"},"modified":"2026-06-17T14:08:13","modified_gmt":"2026-06-17T14:08:13","slug":"stem-participation-why-experts-are-calling-out-myer-over-offensive-t-shirt-messaging","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/742467\/","title":{"rendered":"STEM participation: Why experts are calling out Myer over offensive T-shirt messaging"},"content":{"rendered":"

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The head of the country\u2019s top science academy will write to Myer over the retailer\u2019s decision to sell a women\u2019s T-shirt emblazoned with the words, \u201cI\u2019m too pretty to do math\u201d.<\/p>\n

The T-shirt, by Australian label Lioness, has raised the ire of Dr Cathy Foley, president of the Australian Academy of Technological Sciences & Engineering.<\/p>\n

\"TheThe T-shirt in question.<\/p>\n

Foley, Australia\u2019s former chief scientist, said she would write to Myer chair Olivia Wirth to raise concerns over the T-shirt\u2019s messaging, given the effect the sentiment could have on women\u2019s and girls\u2019 interest and participation in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM).<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s not helpful, and it\u2019s giving such a wrong message,\u201d Foley said.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou have to ask: What does it say to the world? What is it encouraging women to think and aspire to?\u201d<\/p>\n

A physicist by training and former CSIRO chief scientist, Foley said it was important to call out messages dismissing or degrading girls\u2019 and women\u2019s abilities in the sciences no matter how subtle.<\/p>\n

\"DrDr Cathy Foley will raise her concerns about the messaging on the T-shirt.Martin Ollman<\/p>\n

\u201cYou can\u2019t let these things go without talking about it because you don\u2019t want this to become this wedge which leads to the undoing of a whole lot of work we\u2019ve been working on for decades.\u201d<\/p>\n

Women have been under-represented in STEM for decades, be it at school, university or in the workforce.<\/p>\n

According to the federal government\u2019s 2025 STEM Equity Monitor, girls are more likely than boys to end their formal STEM education at school. Just under a third of girls in year 11 and 12 said they would pursue STEM elective subjects in the future, while just under half of boys said they would.<\/p>\n

Related Article\"Year<\/a><\/p>\n

The monitor found the proportion of women enrolled in STEM subjects at university had failed to lift since 2020, sitting at 37 per cent. However, completion rates had improved, rising from 14,500 in 2015 to 18,100 in 2023.<\/p>\n

Dr Marguerite Evans-Galea, who co-founded Women in STEMM Australia \u2013 which also advocates for women in medicine \u2013 said the T-shirt\u2019s slogan was outdated and suggested a girl\u2019s appearance was more important than her intelligence.<\/p>\n

\u201cBeauty versus brains is a false choice from a bygone era. With AI increasingly influencing every sector, mathematics is the language of our future,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Evans-Galea, a deputy director at the Australian Regenerative Medicine Institute, said more than half the staff and students at the institute were women.<\/p>\n

\u201cPromoting outdated stereotypes actively discourages girls from gaining the skills they\u2019ll need in their future careers,\u201d she said. \u201cGirls belong at the forefront of STEMM, and we need their intellect and drive to solve the complex challenges of tomorrow.\u201d<\/p>\n

The T-shirt remained on sale on the Lioness, Myer and The Iconic websites on Wednesday evening.<\/p>\n

Myer was approached for comment but declined.<\/p>\n

Lioness describes itself as a fashion house which \u201cdelivers sexy, luxury-inspired product designed for headstrong, fearless women who love to dress the way they feel\u201d. The company\u2019s website says the label is stocked in more than 15 countries.<\/p>\n

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\"BridieBridie Smith<\/a> is an education reporter at The Age. A former desk editor, she has also reported on science and consumer affairs.Connect via X<\/a>, Facebook<\/a> or email<\/a>.From our partners<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Save You have reached your maximum number of saved items. Remove items from your saved list to add…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":742468,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[64,63,44],"class_list":["post-742467","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-australia","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/742467","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=742467"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/742467\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/742468"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=742467"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=742467"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=742467"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}