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Feminism: Sex and gender discussions

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1/2 of all state schools have no girls sitting physics A level

391 replies

Himalaya · 03/10/2012 08:46

Shock

Just listening on the radio. Sad

Thoughts? Experience? Ideas?

OP posts:
GrimmaTheNome · 03/10/2012 23:04

Harbinger and prettyd - I know a young lady who did geog, phys, maths and (I think) Eng Lit, but anyway I'm sure her 4th A level was an Arts subject at a state school (excellent coed comp). She's just started a geog degree at camb. and wants to specialise in glaciology and the geography of other planets - easy to see how physics goes with that ambition! Smile

nailak · 03/10/2012 23:03

how can you not do science at primary school?
you never learnt about materials? glass/wood/natural/man made?
floating and sinking?
the water cycle?
ecosystems? caterpillar turns in to butterfly etc?
seasons?
seeds?

harbingerofdoom · 03/10/2012 22:53

That's the problem, physics is not a requirement for medicine or dentistry. If it was needed,some of them might have become engineers!

cerealqueen · 03/10/2012 22:50

Geegee - home economics is equally important, everybody should learn how to run a home and feed themselves well. Everybody.

ithinkimightbegoingmad · 03/10/2012 22:48

there are plenty of mums on this site who are doctors/ engineers etc geegee myself included

morethanpotatoprints · 03/10/2012 22:48

Unless I am missing something here, surely if girls aren't interested in Physics they aren't going to choose it.
I'm all for encouraging all subjects but after that its their choice. Whats to say that some girls who take Physics or any other subject are not influenced by parents attitude/ mum or Dad did it, think I should or expect me to and they choose the subject. Its not always a negative that parents, peers or society have put their dcs off a subject.
There is no way I would have taken it as I found it so boring, so did my ds's and no doubt dd too. I think they should learn the basics as any other subject but don't see it as any more important than any other subject, including home economics.

cerealqueen · 03/10/2012 22:48

I really enjoyed physics and wanted to do physics O level but my mum said your brother found it hard, how on earth do you think you'll cope???

So I didn't do it. I still find it fascinating though and it would be great to answer DDs questions of why how etc with a bit of authority!!

ithinkimightbegoingmad · 03/10/2012 22:47

what trend of thinking women shouldnt work? who thinks that? Confused

TheDoctrineOfSnatch · 03/10/2012 22:45

Umm - what, geegee?? Sure by definition a site called mumsnet will have majority posts from mums and mums with more time might make more posts, but SAHMs on MN usually worked first and may well work again in due course. I have rarely seen a "women shouldn't work" post on here, any that are a bit like that usually get shouted down.

geegee888 · 03/10/2012 22:38

Is there any point taking physics though if you don't want to do a physics degree/become a physics teacher?

Yes, you need it to get into dentistry, medicine and engineering. I did it at Higher, and Highers in Physcis, Biology and Chemistry are really essential for getting into those courses. Since the majority of medical students are now female and increasing, it seems bizarre that this is an increasing concern, because clearly plenty of girls are succeeding in these subjects and getting into medical and dental degrees.

Its a fantastic subject, much more interesting than Biology and even better than Chemistry, which is pretty interesting. Its the background for understanding so many other subjects and applications.

What I've noticed is that in the UK at the moment, there seems to be a bizarre trend for thinking women shouldn't work, and all this nonsense thinking about women and Physics is part of it. Its like something out of the 19th Century. If you look at some of the posts on here, you will see what I mean. Its possibly a minority thing, exacerbated by those on the internet being more representative of the group as a whole. But obviously if you have parents who think like that, they are not likely to produce that many female children who buck the trend and want to study subjects like physics, when they have been brought up to aspire to not working.

I distinctly remember my mother telling the school "my daughter will not be wasting her school hours doing Home Economics and will be using the period for extra academic study instead" - they didn't argue with her.

ClaudiaCardinale · 03/10/2012 22:27

I am studying for a BSc in physics and I would say about 20% of my fellow students are female.

kim147 · 03/10/2012 22:23

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

harbingerofdoom · 03/10/2012 22:22

prettyd what your DD is doing would not have been possible in DD's school. Many schools still can't do a science/arts mix on the timetable.
Is your DD in the state system?

prettydaisies · 03/10/2012 22:12

DD does physics, further maths, geography and English lit. She is one of three girls in physics and the only girl in her further maths class. Geography is about half and half and English lit more girls than boys!
She is hoping to do earth sciences at university.

harbingerofdoom · 03/10/2012 22:06

Grimma, my DD would have loved to do geog/geol but her 4th AS had to be maths.
My DF still goes on about how important maths is-and he is right.
I really believe that unless we get the maths sorted, there will not be the numbers needed to diversify.
TBH why do the hardest subjects and earn half as much as a medic?

TheDoctrineOfSnatch · 03/10/2012 22:02

I do agree that offering single sciences not combined at GCSE would be a big factor.

weblette · 03/10/2012 21:57

Looking at the results for dd's single sex grammar school, 16 studied Physics last year - all passed, majority with A or A. At the local boys grammar they had 53 students, again majority A/A.

At the nearest non-selective there were just 6 students, the highest grade achieved was B. Neither of the other two local upper schools list the individual subject results but very few male or female study any of the sciences past GCSE. Whether or not that's down to the fact that none of them offer single sciences, instead opting for combined, I don't know.

Certainly round here it would seem your gender has less to with advanced level study than whether the school is selective or not.

EmmelineGoulden · 03/10/2012 21:56

panic if there is no bias pushing girls one way or the other, and boys and girls are only choosing the subjects they like and are good at with no social pressure, why are girls at single sex schools more likely to do physics than girls at co-ed schools?

LRDtheFeministDragon · 03/10/2012 21:56

Grin Yeah, my experience of lovely geeky lads as a teen was, erm, not exactly that their minds were on higher things!

motherinferior · 03/10/2012 21:54

I am still PMSL at the assertion that geeky boys don't want girlfriends. They may not be very good at getting girlfriends but, er, the Urge is there. (Apart from the ones who want boyfriends, obviously.)

TheDoctrineOfSnatch · 03/10/2012 21:51

Panic I will push for society to accept that some subjects just appeal more to one sex than the other when, for example, M&S stops marketing a giant magnet solely under its "Boys' Stuff" label.

ouryve · 03/10/2012 21:46

Btw - I've had this thread open for a bit and the tab says 1/2 of all stat...

My brain is automatically finishing off ...istics are made up :o

LizzieMint73 · 03/10/2012 21:41

I was one of 4 girls who did A Level Physics in 1992 in a class of about 18, normal state secondary school. Our teacher was a very glamourous woman in her 50s - she was probably even more in the minority as she would have studied in the 60s?

I now work in a science based career where the preferred degree is physics, although mine is chemistry. My profession probably has about twice as many men as women but we still get plenty of female physics graduates applying and being employed.

It would be nice if more girls considered science as a career, but I fear that any attempts to encourage women and girls into scientific careers will be of the patronising and stereotypical 'its a girl thing type'

panicnotanymore · 03/10/2012 21:38

I did A Level physics - was one of 3 girls in a class with 25 boys in a co-ed state school. All 3 girls got grade A, and none of the boys did... which was interesting...

I hate to say it but physics just wasn't popular amongst the girls in my school. The teaching was fine, no bias towards boys. There was no stigma attached to taking it - I was not thought of as weird. The lessons were all fair as well, if anything the teachers were marginally more accessible to the girls, who were (in my class anyway) more focussed and better students.

I would probably have avoided physics like the plague if I'd had to go to a special single sex class. I mean wtf is that about? I can see it now - 'the weirdy weird lesbo class for nerds'. Yup, how to fit in.... not.

Sometimes society should just accept that certain subjects have a greater appeal to each sex. It doesn't mean there aren't many very talented women scientists out there, but it does mean that fewer women are drawn to physics as a career choice.

GrimmaTheNome · 03/10/2012 21:32

You really need maths and physics.
Don't drop the maths.

ITA - so FGS let all bright science-type kids do both of those and chem and biol (or chem and geog if they're earthscience types). 3 is not enough