Olive Jackson
The imbalance of genders within STEM subjects (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) has been a long developed and well-known tradition. Whilst physics and mathematics are renowned for being more “masculine”, teachers and students alike see “softer” subjects such as art, music and English as a lot more “feminine”.
One study of Canadian secondary school children showed that 14% of girls said that art was their favourite subject compared to only 5% of boys, whereas 6% of boys preferred ICT versus a shockingly small 2% of girls.
Although this is only one school, we can quickly see a trend forming and a separation between boys and girls towards school subjects.
As this continues to sixth form and college and students have more freedom with their options, it’s seen that over half of the boys achieving A* in GCSE Physics will continue it to A level, whereas only 1/5 girls will.
In A level mathematics, 60% of the students sitting exams last year were male, however in English Literature this was only 30%.
Each subject is important in its own right, however the gender imbalance towards STEM subjects continually causes concerns for teachers and academics, and schemes to get women and girls to continue in subjects like the sciences haven’t had any lasting impact.
According to WISE, women still only make up 13% of the STEM workforce.
As an A level student hoping to go into the field of biochemistry (classed as a STEM subject) and although biology has a reputation for being the “girly” science, I am shocked at how little women are encouraged into these subjects – with an ever increasing demand for research, medical and scientific cures and new engineering techniques, isn’t the input of intelligent women essential to our world’s development?
How can we continue repressing the input of 50% of the population due to an age-old social stigma that should have been ousted years ago, when there may be a wealth of knowledge contained in women’s brains that we just aren’t allowing to be unlocked?
Out of the entire history of the Nobel prize for Physics (started in 1901), only 2 have been female. That’s 2 out of a total of 198 prizes, despite the fact that women make up 50% of the worlds population.
So what can we do about it? Encouraging women into the STEM subjects doesn’t seem to be working – a quick google search and you can find bursaries, funding and courses specifically tailored to getting women into science, yet there is still a significant lack of female input.
The way to combat this is to fight the social stigma, to educate children from an early age about gender equality, power and knowledge and allow them to choose for themselves what they are truly interested in, without the stigma of mathematics, science and ICT being a “boy’s subject” and making them turn to the more widely “feminine” ones.
Give women the choice and we may have the next Einstein arriving – and this time it’s a Mrs.
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