http://www.cbc.ca/news/technology/science-minister-universities-more-women-1.4088173

Canada's science minister says universities aren't doing the heavy lifting to appoint more female research chairs, so she wants to force their hands. [Emphasis added; title says "attract", body says "appoint".]

On her way to give a speech Wednesday to Canada's university presidents in Montreal, Kirsty Duncan was handed the latest statistics on the number of men and women among applicants for new Canada Research Chair positions.

"They're dismal," Duncan said in an interview with The Canadian Press. "There were two times more men nominated than women."

The Canada Research Chairs program was implemented 17 years ago to create 2,000 research positions at universities across the country to push for excellence in engineering, natural sciences, health sciences, humanities and social sciences. Canada spends $265 million a year on the program.

As of December 2016, there were 1,612 filled positions, among which 30 per cent were women. That fits with the fact between 2000 and 2015, 31 per cent of applicants for the jobs were from women.

Duncan said the latest figures show nothing has changed, a status quo she can't accept, since she made it known when she was sworn in to the Liberal cabinet that improving the gender balance would be a priority.

This seems to be an example of expecting a 50:50 gender ratio in an area for no particular reason. The closest thing to a reason that I see is this:

"I believe (that) in a globalized competitive economy, we cannot afford to leave half our talent on the sidelines," she said.

But it's not like women who aren't in STEM are sitting around doing nothing. Like men who aren't in STEM, they're doing other work. Unless we say that STEM work is more important, but that's not an issue of gender ratio. Thoughts?