Views on Female Under-Representation in Physics: Retraining Women or Reinventing Physics?

Abstract

Female under-representation in physics is a growing concern in the physics and science education communities. In this position paper, three viewpoints will be offered from the literature regarding the beliefs of physicists and science educators as to why there is a dearth of females in physics. These viewpoints are usually not held exclusively but are generally held to varying degrees by people in these fields. The viewpoints assign different causes to the problem, namely, 1) inherent differences between males and females, 2) socialized differences between males and females, and 3) a biased culture within the field. The first two viewpoints are limited because they find differences associated with a student's gender to be at the root of the problem. Neither biological predisposition nor socialization of the genders is easily changed. The third viewpoint, the position taken by the authors, argues that modes of research and understanding in physics are invented by its practitioners rather than vice versa. Thus, in order to include more females, the structure of the physics community has to be reinvented with their input.