Case Study
Source of table:
http://www.raeng.org.uk/publications/other/wise-stats-document-final |
This case study will focus on the amount of girls that get sent on to do physics at A-level compared to the amount of boys that get sent on to do physics at A-level. However, it is not only physics that has a low percentage of female entrants at A-level it is all STEM subjects (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics). Research shows that all STEM subjects have a lower amount of entrants that are female compared to the amount of entrants that are male. Furthermore, ‘at A-level, lower numbers of females took all STEM subjects, except Biology’ (Botcherby & Buckner, 2012) the fact that biology was one of the only STEM subjects that a high number of female entrants highlights how society has conditioned people to believe that females can only do certain things for example the only career that women should pursue in a scientific field is a job related to biology because females are stereo-typically better at dealing with biology because it is considered a feminine subject. Although, the amount of females entered in to do STEM subjects at A-level has risen over the years and will hopefully continue to rise it used to be ‘only 21% of Physics ‘A’ Level entrants [that] were female, but the number participating rose by 13% compared to 2009. Again, the number of males entered in the same time period increased at [the] higher rate of 19%’ (Botcherby & Buckner, 2012). Moreover, this case study will focus on whether their social status affects how many females are entered into Physics at A-level because it could be interpreted that females that come from independent schools are more likely to be encouraged into choosing physics as an A-level subject. One reason that they might be encouraged more is because people who have high social statuses tend not to listen when society tries to label them as inadequate or lacking when it comes to intelligence because they believe that they are above society and their judgement. However, another reason that private schools encourage their female pupils into taking physics as an A-level subject is because they are fed up of living in a world where men have all the power over everything so they are educating their young female pupils about highly academic careers in the hopes that they will pursue it when they are older which will help change what is classified as the social norm and defies the rules that society has set out for them.
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