STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) classes have traditionally (and stereotypically) been perceived as the domain of boys. It is this gender bias that has been blamed for the lack of girls opting to take such classes.

According to WISE, there has been a huge drop off in the number of girls studying core STEM subjects with just 35% of girls choosing maths, physics, computing or a technical vocational qualification compared to 94% of boys. With the UK’s technology sector growing 2.8 times faster than overall employment, encouraging more girls to pursue careers in STEM is vital to ensure job security for the next generation.

Recently, Professor Polly Arnold, Crum Brown Chairwoman of Chemistry at Edinburgh University said that short-term gender segregated STEM classes could encourage more girls into these subjects at school level and help them build their self-confidence in those areas. Arnold believes that to address the loss of women from the tech and science career pipeline, stereotypes around STEM subjects needs to be fixed.

Equate Scotland, the organisation aims to make a positive difference for women in science engineering, technology and the built environment said: “the leaky pipeline effect results in a loss of talented female scientists, engineers and technologists.”

Giving Girls Space to Build Confidence

Arnold told BBC Radio Scotland’s Good Morning Scotland: “If you tell girls that they are bad at maths they will do worse in the test afterwards, and that has been proven by research. Women and girls are taught by society to be people-pleasers, and they work harder to not offend, so part of this behaviour that we instill in ourselves and other people instill in us is to not offend people.”

“Success and likability and this sort of what is correlated as a logic brain, these are positively correlated for men and negatively correlated for women, which is incredibly sad because of course the brain is not gendered and it’s incredibly plastic.”

“If you separate people out — and we talked about having clubs that were girls only at least for a while until they get their self-confidence up and they realise that they are the best at whatever particular skill that may be — then you can bring them back together and they get back their confidence.”

Jane Ballantine, Founder and CEO of Limitless Learning, told DIGIT that although not a fan of the concept, she did agree that single sex STEM classes would be beneficial for female students: “It’s not just that they get better grades, they develop a different attitude to the subject for life.”

“I think being in a single sex classroom forces girls to get practical with the subject which helps them build a relationship with it and get more familiar with the equipment and the concepts, but in a co-educational classroom it’s often the boys who dive into practicals first, leaving the girls to watch which gives them less of the learning experience.”

Segregation May Perpetuate Stereotypes

Ellie Mulcahy, a former Teacher and Researcher at Education thinktank LKMco, asserted that single-sex education is not in fact the answer to this issue as the separation of boys and girls does not address the underlying structural inequality in society.

Mulcahy said: “What message are we sending to our girls when we tell them that they can only flourish in a boy-free bubble? We should think twice before compromising that universalism (provided by co-education) in the name of insulating pupils from the stereotypes that they will inevitably have to confront in the future.”

Similarly, computer science teacher Toni Scullion, said: “It is an interesting idea but I feel if anything it could potentially reinforce the stereotype, also in the real world boys and girls need to work together and we should be encouraging that in all levels of education.”

“To tackle the gender gap in all STEM subjects it is going to take educators, schools, industry experts and government to all work together to strive to make a difference and not to repeatedly tell a child this is happening because there is a gender gap.”

Society-wide Issue

Research by the Institute of Physics has shown that while girls who attend single-sex school are more likely to take physics, perceptions about STEM subjects are formed beyond the classroom.

The report cited issues such as the lack of appropriate physicist female role models on television, parental attitudes toward science and their knowledge of its associated benefits, self-concept, and the quality of student-teacher relationships as big contributing factors as to why less girls pursue STEM subjects.

It has also been reported that socio-economic background is another key influencer on the female uptake of STEM subjects. Girls from wealthier backgrounds have shown greater resilience to these external influences than girls from lower socio-economic groups who are less likely to receive good quality career advice.