The government's social mobility commissioner claimed that girls don't choose physics A-level because they dislike hard math.
Speaking to a science and technology committee inquiry on diversity and inclusion in Stem (science, technology, engineering and maths), she said that physics isn't something that girls like. She said they don't like it and don't want to do it.
According to the head of Michaela Community school in Wembley, only 16% of A-level physics students are girls, lower than the national average of 22%. She said that girls don't like it when they don't progress to physics A-level. There is a lot of hard math in there that they would rather not do.
She said that the research said that was a natural thing.
She said that she was not campaigning for more girls to do physics.
Dame Athene Donald, a professor of experimental physics and master of Churchill College, Cambridge, said the comments were terrifying and damaging.
Donald said that it was not a case of campaigning for more girls to do physics. We are not in a society like that.
Dr Jess Wade, a physicist at Imperial College London who campaigns for equality in science, said: "I honestly can't believe we're still having this conversation." It's patronising, it's frustrating, and it's closing doors to exciting careers in physics and engineering for generations of young women. There is no evidence to show that girls and boys have different abilities or preferences.
The comments come after girls beat boys in both A-level and GCSE math for the first time last year.
The Institute of Physics found that girls at single sex schools are almost two and a half times more likely to progress to A-level physics than girls in mixed schools.
The report concluded that teacher-student relationships played a significant role in A-level choices and that gender stereotypes by teachers, parents and the media continue to be an issue, with a recommendation that all teachers are trained in unconscious biases and gender stereotypes.
Prof Catherine Noakes, a mechanical engineer at the University of Leeds and a prominent member of the government's Sage committee during the Pandemic, said that it was really disappointing to see comments like this that were based on incorrect assumptions about gender differences.
Girls are told that mathematics, physics and engineering are not for them and this is conditioned by society.
In some cases this includes the expectations and attitudes of teachers in schools, but it is also pervasive in the toys and clothing that are aimed at them. We need to make sure that the opportunities are open to everyone, and that they are not closed off by stereotypes at an early age, because scientific and technology careers are so diverse and rewarding.
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