Girls lack self-confidence in science and maths, a new report has found, with about a quarter of young women opting not to study mathematics in their final years of high school.

The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) report on gender equality also found less than one in 20 girls from OECD countries considered careers in science, technology, engineering and maths.

Dr Cathy Foley is the science director of the CSIRO's manufacturing arm and said, while results between boys and girls in maths and science were very similar, young women were opting in greater numbers not to study the subjects.

"The report shows that if you look at the testing of girls and boys in maths and science, that there's a small difference, about 3 per cent difference, so let's say they're about equal," she said.

"What it's saying is ... that girls are just not choosing to head into careers or do subjects that allows them to [have] careers in science, technology, engineering and mathematics.

"And when you think of the way the world is going, technology-related career choices and opportunities [are] really where the future is, they're just not going to be in a position to be competitive."

Fears for career prospects in technology-related industries

Ms Foley said she was disappointed, but not surprised by the findings.

"We really haven't shifted that much, in fact, maybe even gone backwards a bit," she said.

"One of the things that I suppose is alarming is ... in the last 15 years or so since about 2001, the number of girls and boys not choosing to do maths in their final years in high school has tripled.

"For boys it's gone from about 3 per cent to 9 per cent but now it's got to a point where about 25 per cent of girls are not choosing to do any maths in their last years of high school.

"So we're seeing that girls are choosing in greater numbers to not undertake even the basic literacy subjects, just so that they can go into the world knowing more about maths and science, so that even on day-to-day levels they're able to make sense of the world.

"That's concerning, but then from a career perspective, they need those as a baseline in order to step into courses that allow them to be studying for careers ... from engineering and sciences, but also in many businesses today the opportunities in technology-related industry.

Making headway in biological sciences

Ms Foley said while some girls were moving into science careers, many young women were not completing the basic studies to set themselves up with options.

"I don't think as a society we're completely ignoring girls going into science but we notice that they do tend to go into the biological sciences and biotech areas and medical research, and that's actually an area of growth for Australia so that's something where I think we're making big headway," she said.

"If you look in the physical sciences, we still don't see many young women putting their hands up to become engineers.

"So I think there's an unconscious desire to move away from the sort of hard sciences ... or maths and into the biological sciences but in the process we're sort of shutting out the opportunities and where the future is, particularly where IT and engineering are infiltrating all aspects of our lives.

Ms Foley said parents and teachers had a significant role to play in encouraging girls to pursue careers in science, technology, engineering and maths.

"The role of parents and teachers is huge," she said.

"I think if you look at any studies it says that kids choose a lot of their subjects, or their future is dependent on, parental and teacher influence and if they've got a bias or an unknown bias or if they've got even a lack of knowledge then they're just going to go with what they know.

"It's one thing saying 'yes, we should encourage parents and teachers to encourage girls to think beyond their normal social norms', but my guess is that they don't really know that they're doing it.

"We need to have some sort of recognition or campaign to make sure that parents and teachers realise that we have this unconscious bias."