Sex and science

Biology is a girlie science - lots of nature, bodies, health. Physics, on the other hand, is for lads - it's all levers, electricity and nuclear reactions. And, when they grow up, scientifically-inclined lads will be electricians, engineers, physicists and plumbers, while scientificallygifted girls will be nutritionists, nurses and med lab scientists.

This analysis may be a little crude but there is a definite sex factor at work on Leaving Cert science subjects. Boys are three times more likely to sit physics than girls, but twice as many girls do biology as boys. However, gender stereotyping seems to have passed chemistry by - roughly equal numbers sit it at Leaving Cert.

Stereotyping may be compounded by the availability of the various subjects. Of 736 leaving Cert schools in 1996, 590 offered physics, 522 offered chemistry, 111 offered physics and chemistry while 708 offered biology.

Dr Jacqueline Allen, a member of the executive committee of the Women In Technology and Science (WITS) organisation, notes that a survey last year found that, even in co-educational schools where boys and girls were given the same choices, girls still veered away from the hard sciences.

"There is a misconception that everybody who works in science and technology works in a lab," she says. "Girls are put off by the idea of being isolated, with less interaction with people." WITS recently got £30,000 from the Department to produce resources to help colleges put on role model days. The role models talk about what they actually do and how they got into the area.

It's important, says Allen, to highlight the fact that a degree is not necessary to work in science and technology - there are lots of subdegree courses offered by the Institutes of Technology and Post Leaving Cert colleges.

She sees an issue around introducing girls to science. There is some concern that packages in the IT2000 initiative are male-oriented and WITS will be making some recommendations to the Department.