girls don't like science

[plisplas]

I am running a science club in my DS's school. There were 3 girls out of 12 kids. When I asked the teacher (science coordinator) why didn't they invite more girls, she said that a science club was more for boys than for girls, apparently, girls do not tend to like science. I thought she was very wrong, as I am female and I love science, but I don't have any DD. What do you think?

I was hoping that these sorts of attitudes were a changing. I did a physics degree and there were 6 girls and 60 boys in my year. (I'm a girl, well, woman these days!) I would have hated it myself, but I can see the appeal of singe sex schools for girls. These stereotypes are much less common in girls' schools.

god that's not even a step back, i had a very old fashioned schooling as did my mother and science was absolutely key to it, it was "girly" science (biology, zoology, botany, chemistry, maths) but it was absolutely core to a very old fashioned single sex schooling, and when I was there technical drawing was also introduced. A huge proportion of girls went on to do Science at university in my mothers day. Even in the 1700s girls studied botany.

A lot of the GN stuff around at the moment isn't even a step back, it's WORSE than the "old days", like limiting girl things to one single colour - that's new not a step back!

ffs why not just stream them all into health and social care or textiles in reception and be done with it

I did 6000 words on gender bias in perceptions of science in primary children as part of my PGCE...

There is a huge skew in numbers doing the different sciences at A level. It really starts to show in secondary, but a teacher's attitude like that described in the OP will make a huge difference. Such attitudes do need to be challenged and changed.

Yes, monkey, current gender stereotypes do seem to have new elements.

My mother and her mother are both science graduates. Neither my sister nor I took degrees in science, but we both studied science all the way through school to our terminal exams (me: Biology and Chemistry; her: Physics) and we loved science and were very good at it.

I was not brought up thinking science was for boys and I did not expect to have to raise my daughters in a world where being a girl meant being assigned a set of boring, shallow interests and a single colour.

PlisPlas do you think you will bring this up with the school?

The teacher should be fired.

I am a scientist, my grandmother was a scientist, and if my DD was ever taught by a teacher with this attitude I would be absolutely horrified.

I'm not sure "challenging" sexist attitudes is enough.

It should be as unacceptable for a teacher to be openly sexist as openly racist.

AThingInYourLife I absolutely agree with you.

Why is she the science coordinator, then? Surely that should be a job for a man!

Well, I didn't.

Formal complaint.
Definitely.

What a ridiculous thing to say!! How come more than 50% of the people working in the reasearch technology centre I work at are female?? Not because they dont like science methinks.

If the teacher is telling the children (directly or not) that certain subjects are gender specific, some children will listen and act accordingly.......the teacher should be pulled up on that.