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The lack of women choosing to study science subjects at university has sparked both angst and action.
Nearly 30 years ago the Wise Campaign was set up to inspire more girls to pursue science, technology, engineering and maths (Stem). Now more than half of all higher education institutions involved in teaching these subjects are members of Athena Swan, founded to tackle the gender imbalance in science in universities.
Earlier this month, the government repeated its commitment to encouraging more women into science in a response to the latest Science and Technology Committee report on the issue.
But much less support exists for a group under-represented across higher education as a whole, and in certain subjects chronically so – men.
Figures from the Universities and Colleges Admissions Service (Ucas) (pdf) show that another 20,000 men would be needed to redress the gender imbalance among nursing students, around 7,000 in education, and 10,000 each in psychology and social work. This is within the context of far higher numbers of women entering higher education generally; they are now as likely to enter as men are to even apply.
Medicine is now dominated by women
Mary Curnock Cook, Ucas chief executive, says that within a decade the gap between the number of men and women in higher education is likely to eclipse that between the numbers of students from wealthy and poor backgrounds, which has been steadily narrowing.
"I cannot help feeling we are brewing up a sociological shift that will be difficult to handle in the future," she says.
She is particularly concerned about the gender imbalance in teaching, arguing that more male teachers could help address the gender imbalance in school achievement.
Nor is this just an issue in traditionally female subjects. Medicine is now dominated by women, as is veterinary science.
"Female dominance of the entire population in universities is an issue," says Curnock Cook. "But I'm not aware of any campaigns in the way that there are for women in computer science and Stem subjects."
A gender equality charter?
Ellen Pugh, senior policy adviser on gender equality and gender identity at the Equality Challenge Unit (ECU), which works to support equality and diversity for staff and students in higher education, suggests that there is some nervousness about concentrating on male students when men are still doing better than women in the workplace.
"We are aware that there is an issue within higher education where the attainment of men and their representation isn't what we would hope it would be," she says. "At the same time we are balancing that with the amazing achievements of female students."
The ECU is in the process of trialling a gender equality charter mark to recognise institutions' commitment to advancing women's careers in the arts, humanities and social sciences that will also cover under-representation of men in certain academic disciplines. The charter mark, which draws on the experience of Athena Swan in the sciences, is likely to be launched later this year.
Favouring male students is against the law
Jonathan Allen, director of initial teacher training at the Institute of Education (IOE), says the IOE, like other institutions, does try to support male students, through men's groups and providing male mentors.
But he says the law prevents any favouring of men when it comes to recruitment. He is concerned that the gender imbalance could get worse as the economy picks up because men tend to be more influenced than women by the state of the economy in deciding to go into teaching.
"I don't think we are ever going to reach the day when men are coming into primary education in the same sort of numbers as women," he says.
Male nurses get teased by their friends
Jack Cantle, one of only three men in his group of 30 studying for a primary PGCE at the IOE, struggles to understand why more men don't do the same as him. He feels comfortable working in a environment where women outnumber men. "There's nothing off-putting about that."
But other men studying female-dominated subjects acknowledge that it can be difficult. Daniel Gray, a first-year nursing student at Sheffield University, says his male friends tease him about being a male nurse "and that can be a massive issue that would deter people".
In his first work placement, he was the only male member of staff. "It matters that there aren't enough men in nursing," he says. "Male nurses bring something different."
Jonathan Hayton, a first-year nursing student at King's College London, says: "I sometimes feel male patients relax a bit more. They are just a bit more comfortable. They can be themselves."
Ieuan Ellis, chair of the UK Council of Deans of Health, is in no doubt that in nursing and midwifery lack of men is a concern.
"It's always a problem when you have such a bias towards one particular gender," he says.
While nursing has done particularly well in terms of encouraging mature students and those from ethnic minorities, he feels more action should be taken to redress the gender imbalance, although sees it as something that needs to involve schools and the profession as well as universities.
He suggests that moves to make nursing a graduate profession could help but is concerned that the recent emphasis on its caring and compassionate aspects following the Francis report into care failings in Mid Staffordshire could have the opposite effect.
And he says that it is important not to miss the bigger picture – the cap on funded training places. "There are more applicants to nursing than any other Ucas course in the country," he says.
"It's a shame more aren't men, but how are we going to fund more of those applicants to undertake their training? That's what's really exercising everybody."
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