Graduates and Post Graduates in Physical Sciences, did the Women on your Course do better or worse than Men?

Question

I studied Physics in the Uk between 1988-1991 and a Masters between 1993-1994.

In the undergraduate course the intake was around 200, the average grade entrance was (uk A level AAB for men, BBB for women). The minimum requirement was BBC.

In terms of final year awards (degree classes third, honours lower second, upper second and first class) the distribution of grades from female students was identical to male students within accepted statistical parameters. Despite the fact that the average entry grade of women was lower.

There were 40 female students and 160 men in my year, and the university department researched this data, although I am citing it from memory.

The Masters course I attended had 18 students of whom just 2 were women, who both passed their exams.

I can only conclude from this (as the university I graduated concluded that women who enter degree courses in hard sciences do just as well as the men.

What are your experiences on this matter?

Answer 1

My educational background is not in the Physical Sciences (though I have a fair exposure to Physics in particular and I have taught History of Science to undergrads), and what I am about to share is rather tangential to the subject, but this seems as appropriate a place as any to mention an experience I had.

I had the chance to create and teach a course called "Philosophical Logic in Central Europe: from Bolzano to Tarski", which was unusual in that, while Wittgenstein was mentioned in passing only a few times, the entire approach was taught in a Wittgensteinian manner (as much of his work can be understood as being in dialog with many of the relevant figures).

What that meant was that the approach was quite unusual to most of those inclined to Mathematical Logic and to Formalistic approaches to Philosophy, while those more inclined to the Humanities, to traditional Philosophy, and to what is normally considered "Continental Philosophy" (a field which, ironically, excludes most of the figures being discussed, save Husserl and the Phenomenologists!), were less put off by the admittedly eccentric approach, but lacked the technical background to fully appreciate the subject matter when it got too far into formal matters.

Oddly enough, only three individuals really benefited from the course and mastered the materials (the course was not renewed), and all three were women! (The class started with about 50, with perhaps 15 women.)

This was no basis for any generalizations, but I was struck by it nevertheless.

EDIT

To clarify: what struck me is that the course demanded the use of two rather different approaches to problems, one highly rigorous and analytical, the other creative, imaginative, and synthetic, and that it was 3 women who seemed equally at home with both. There were both men and women who excelled in one or the other, however.

Answer 2

I've already made a dissertation on the merits or otherwise of over-education of every simple thing in life. Now we have a contributor here with a degree in finance - jeez! Truly makes me wonder how the world survived without all this 'education' - funny thing is - it developed all these schools on the basis of the way it was - so it couldn't have been all wrong. Frankly shocked by the stories in the link from Shorty - perhaps another proof to add the Grappler University research programme into reasons why government is insisting on handing money to women for any reason at all. BTW - Grappler does not receive any government funding so as to preclude conflicts of interest. We operate solely on income derived from research and patents - and most of that goes to funding disadvantaged students.

Answer 3

I can't answer your question from direct experience. But I can tell you that although the men seem to outnumber the women who are taking physics at my college, the women who are taking these classes are doing very well. In fact, the president of our school's physics club is a woman, and she is known for her outstanding academic achievement in this course work.

Answer 4

Oh ya Twilight I can see you will soon be overrun by young men just dying to tell you all about their personal experience working on their PhD's in the field of nuclear medicine at Cambridge, Oxford, Harvard and Yale...

not.

Answer 5

Here in Germany you have far less women in hard thopics, but thats because we have plenty of people and can set higher standards. Thats why our cars rule. I guarantee you the only part women had in designing the latest BMW was to pick up coffee.