ABSTRACT

Approximately three times as many boys as girls take ‘O’ level physics and approximately four times as many take CSE physics. Over 90 per cent of entries in all technical subjects are from boys. This means that schoolgirls are ineligible for a wide range of courses in further and higher education and for entry to occupations requiring a scientific or technical base. Female exclusion from science and technology, even if it is apparently by girls’ own choice, also means that as citizens their ability to understand and control their environment is limited. Nevertheless, most schools consider they are already providing equal opportunities by neutral treatment of the two sexes (Bloomfield 1984). In effect, ignoring the effects of gender in this way merely re-inforces stereotyping because it does nothing to challenge the definition of certain aspects of the curriculum as masculine or feminine.