Girls don’t take physics in high school because they think the subject is only for white boys, lawmakers were told.
No mention of women scientists in the national curriculum contributes to “the message that society is putting out” to discourage girls from choosing physics, said leading physicist Prof Dame Athene Donald.
“If you’re black or a woman, you don’t see yourself as belonging,” she said.
In 2021, 23% of the physics Abitur beginners were female.
This is a slight increase compared to previous years.
Prof Donald of the University of Cambridge told the Commons Science and Technology Committee it was “relevant” that “most of the pictures you see of scientists and physicists are of white males”.
Teachers should try to “actively counteract” messages from society that may discourage girls and children belonging to ethnic minorities from certain subjects, she added.
“In my generation, I know a lot of women who said, ‘I would have liked to do science for high school, but my school stopped me from doing it,’ active discouragement and no active encouragement.”
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The panel comes after a government adviser was criticized for girls avoiding physics because of its “hard math”.
Social mobility adviser and head teacher Katharine Birbalsingh said physics isn’t a subject “that girls like to like,” adding, “I just think they don’t like it.”
The IOP said it was alarmed by the comments and Ms Birbalsingh later said her language was “clunky”.
Prof Donald said Ofsted can help encourage girls to choose physics at A-level by tracking the gender balance of subjects as part of its school inspections.
“If Ofsted were to make gender equality an issue, every school would also have to think in primary school: ‘What do we do without thinking about it, do we give the boys other games or other tasks?'”
In response, Dr. Ofsted’s Jasper Green told the committee that school inspectors are already looking at how to improve girls’ participation in science and math, “but we’re focusing on quality of education, on early education, on subjects and all those steps are the right to encourage broader participation in the Abitur”.
He said gender balance could become something Ofsted should look into in the future but there were “challenges” to measuring and improving it.
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