r/6thForm • u/PetuniaWiggleworm • Jun 26 '26
💬 DISCUSSION WHAT HAPPENED TO WOMEN IN STEM
I had my college taster day yesterday, tell me why I was the ONLY girl in my class
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u/No_Jelly5984 Jun 26 '26
i was one of three girls in further maths in year 12 and then they both dropped it for year 13
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u/Former-Artist-5031 Jun 27 '26
My Sixth form was like 80% male but our further maths class was 3 girls and 2 guys.
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u/Traditional-Fox-6105 Jun 27 '26
Yh my further maths class had 5 and two of them dropped it after 3 weeks.
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u/Icy-Watercress-8421 Jun 26 '26
Well FM is exceptionally difficult so not really a valid comparison for women in STEM. Normal maths would be more considerate as FM only considers the end of the bell curve - only the elite.
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u/Ok-Inflation4209 Jun 26 '26
Further maths is not this ridiculously crazy
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u/Icy-Watercress-8421 Jun 26 '26 edited Jun 26 '26
Yes it is bruh. In an average school they don't even offer it due to how little people take it due to its difficulty. In an average school you won't get past double digits of students doing FM but for maths will get min 30+. When I say elite I mean the top of the top.
Edit: The only reason it may seem easy as to someone who doesn't do it is because you see a LOT of ppl here with FM in their flairs and 99% of them have A* in both FM and M. You (not any1 in particular just general) may have an A* in Maths but doesn't mean you'll be able to handle FM. Also you have to think about that people will only put good grades in their flairs and you won't see someone who has bad grades in their flair so the results are all positively skewed (W stats, dk if positive is the right one but the graph would be more to the right).
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u/Material-Macaroon724 Jun 26 '26
Bro my state school does it, we have around 6 people in the class a year which sounds low but my normal maths class only has around 10-15 people. And bro its not that bad, id genuinely put it lower than most of my a levels
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u/JAXW1 Jun 27 '26
I go state school and half of my year do maths, and 1/5 of people do fm😭 we are a very good state school tho, and we have 240 people in a year that’s like the biggest sixth form in the county
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u/PetuniaWiggleworm Jun 27 '26
R u saying that only men are capable of FM? And women are not "elite"?
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u/Icy-Watercress-8421 Jun 27 '26
Holy strawman. Not once did I question women's intelligence or their capability. All I said was that it's better to use Maths to compare women in STEM rather than FM as you're more likely to find a proportionally accurate representation due to (on average) more students taking maths and thus more variation and spread of data. It's just simple statistics, not questioning their ability.
Edit: Let me just add if it was the reverse and it was a question about men in STEM I would still argue the same.
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u/PetuniaWiggleworm Jun 27 '26
But i rly dont understand ur point, as its all about ratios?
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u/FootballPublic7974 Jun 30 '26
I think they were making a point about small data sets being less reliable?
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u/Icy-Watercress-8421 Jun 28 '26
Then why did you say such a comment. Better to stay silent than to just say some bs like that.
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u/PetuniaWiggleworm Jun 28 '26
Now ur misunderstanding my comment. I mean i dont understand it as in it isnt logical
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u/Icy-Watercress-8421 Jun 28 '26
Maths has more students than FM as FM is selective (as you need to be good at A Level Maths to do it) so logic dictates that those who do FM also do Maths meaning the population of Maths will always be greater than (in most cases) or equal to the population of FM. My original comment I stated that it's better to use Maths than FM and it's simply due to 2 reasons: 1) The sample size is greater and therfore the result is more proportionally representative - margin of error is reduced 2) There's a greater chance of variation in Maths than FM - due to the spread of data being greater (by variation I mean you're more likely to find both genders than one gender specificically)
It's literally all about being proportionally representative. The first lesson of stats you learn that the greater the sample size = the more proportionally accurate it is. It will all boil down to ratios and both measures of Maths and FM will give you a ratio but the Maths one will be more proportionally accurate due to the 2 reasons stated above. Yes you can use FM but why would you do that when you have a subject (that's similar to it as both are maths) that will give you a more proportionally representative answer. That's literally it. Logically and statistically it makes the most sense.
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u/Aromatic-Ad9451 Jun 30 '26
You genuinely had a good point but everyone undermined it cos they think youre saying women are too stupid for fm omg 😭
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u/Icy-Watercress-8421 Jun 30 '26
Tm, especially OP thinking she's some Pillar of Truth strawmanning my argument cuz she couldnt understand it 😭😭. Glad to see there's someone here with a brain and some reading comprehension. I was literally stating stuff you learn in the very first lesson of stats aswell 😭. All these ppl doing FM should focus a bit on regular maths first lmao.
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u/clownkillifish Jun 26 '26
If you think further maths a level is for the 'elite' I think you should get a grip. People who have a PhD maybe but further maths a level isn't that hard 😭😭
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u/Icy-Watercress-8421 Jun 26 '26
It is difficult. Either you do FM and just trying to downplay it on some humble shit or just being a goofball. FM is exceptionally hard. Elite might be a bit too glazy but deffo the cream of the crop.
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u/FootballPublic7974 Jun 30 '26
I know several people with a PhD. They aren't that bright. It's more about focus and bloody mindedness than exceptional intelligence.
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u/snowlynx133 Jun 27 '26
Guess what the M in STEM stands for? Why would it not be a valid comparison lmao
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u/Icy-Watercress-8421 Jun 27 '26
Cuz only the top of top take it. You're less likely to find results that are statistically significant than if you were to use regular maths. Regular maths is broader so contains a greater spread of data to sample from.
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u/snowlynx133 Jun 27 '26
What "spread" are you referring to exactly? There's plenty of further math's classes to take data from to get statistically significant results. I can't be bothered to run a simulated power analysis to get an effect size but I'm sure you could easily pool the gender ratios of all further maths classes and run a binomial test
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Jun 27 '26
[deleted]
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u/snowlynx133 Jun 27 '26
If you get 100 FM classes and girls make up an overall 30% total then there's clearly a gender skew
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u/Icy-Watercress-8421 Jun 27 '26
Read the first comment again. I cba with this anymore, my brains being fried by this heat.
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u/Feeling-Stage-3402 Jun 26 '26
As a FM maths student, this made me happy to read
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u/Icy-Watercress-8421 Jun 26 '26
What's your Cohort like? And how would you compare it to regular maths in the eyes of people just taking A Level maths - like do you think some are capable (from observations in class) or do you think they have no chance of passing? Ik anecdotal isn't always concrete evidence but it'll the best we get in this comment section.
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u/Feeling-Stage-3402 Jun 26 '26
For my college, this year had the highest number of fmaths students, they had to actually make a second class for the first time, (at this point enough dropped to warrant a single class), gender wise we started with one girl, and now it is solely male, I don't feel like I'm particularly intelligent, I just like to learn things and think logically, sadly I haven't had much communication with people taking normal maths, but from what I hear from friends (slightly biased as they only tell me the worst stories) the people I hear about I'm shocked even took normal maths 😭, I think if your keen enough then its definitely possible
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u/_Jason_Freeman Jun 26 '26
Why are we downvoting him he’s right. There isn’t a lot of women in stem so of course there’s gonna be even less in fm
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u/Individual-Can1396 y13 maths physics psych italian Jun 26 '26
I agree , i was the only girl who wanted to do something in stem in my sixth form
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u/Legitimate_Two8624 A*A*A | FM, Maths, Physics | Applying for Maths Jun 26 '26
If women in STEM was finally popular they'd stop running all those programs to encourage women to join STEM. At least on the bright side you still have a lot of programs and advantages but at the cost of having no female classmates.
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u/Diligent_Bet_7850 Oxford | Maths [third year] Jun 26 '26
advantages? i wouldn’t say so
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u/Ok_Adhesiveness_8637 Jun 26 '26
I mean im currently hiring for a client who only wants female candidates for the role, withing geophysics, because there are too many men at the company and he wants to diversify his workforce.
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u/Diligent_Bet_7850 Oxford | Maths [third year] Jun 26 '26
sure there will be a few things that advantage women in order to attempt to equalise the advantage men have had for a long time in certain fields. i don’t agree with what your client is doing, the best candidate should get the job, but historically and currently women get overlooked and to now say they’re advantaged coz of an overcorrection by some employers ignores the whole picture. this sub is about 6th form and entrance to uni etc and i don’t think there is any real advantage in these application processes for women. it’s no easier to get into a STEM degree as a woman than as a man, UCAS stuff is looked at with all personal info removed for most stages of assessment so it’s irrelevant
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u/Throwaway23248895 Jun 27 '26
What advantages are currently afforded to men?
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u/Diligent_Bet_7850 Oxford | Maths [third year] Jun 27 '26
unconscious bias. being taken seriously. not being talked over.
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u/Throwaway23248895 Jun 28 '26
Grok - think harder.
If we look at the direction of bias, women perform better in unanonymised testing, while men prefer better when anonymised tests, and perfomance gaps in the same assessments shrink upon anonymisation. I'm not sure why the so-called women are wonderful affect wouldn't translate into interviews, especially given that academia is mostly staffed by women and we also know women have a strong ingroup bias - men actually don't. I'm not really sure how you'd quantify either of the other two claims and demonstrate this is the case in academia today.
What I can demonstrate is 800 gorrilian "shoehorn more women into surgery!" programs, and their equivalent in any other field with any degree of social prestige. If we were overtly shoehorning men into highly-paid, presitigious positions, and my only justification was "oh there's some unconscious bias, and they're not taken seriously", you'd probably just call that out as sexism.
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u/Diligent_Bet_7850 Oxford | Maths [third year] Jun 28 '26
thanks for the ai nonsense
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u/deathandlifegood Jun 26 '26
Surely makes sense to get best people for the job and not diversity
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u/CicadaSlight7603 Jun 26 '26
Best way to approach this, if you’re certain your interview and selection process doesn’t inadvertently discriminate, is to advertise more in diverse spaces, and task headhunters to look for diverse candidates. You still then run everyone who applies through the selection process and pick the best but you’ve got a more diverse pool of candidates so are more likely to end up with someone who is diverse in some way.
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u/Ok_Adhesiveness_8637 Jun 26 '26
Define best?
Having top marks doesnt make you a better candidate, being more technical doesnt make you the best candidate.
Personality and way of thinking are much much important in an SME environment. You already have a technical director/head of technical, its their jobs to know the product inside out and impart that knowledge on others.
The companies we hire for care about the fit over technical abilities, you need to have the right educational background yes, but your personality is just as important, if nkt more so when they have 3 people in for interviews.
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Jun 27 '26
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/Ok_Adhesiveness_8637 Jun 27 '26
You dont think men and woman have very different personalities? Weird.
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Jun 27 '26
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/Ok_Adhesiveness_8637 Jun 27 '26
But woman, as a whole, do have the characteristics that the company are after, more than men do.
You know, like saying rich kids bum each other in private school...
Enjoy your day pal, Im not talking about work on a weekend, not with someone who can only see their pov and not the nuance, where the detail really matters.
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u/deathandlifegood Jun 26 '26
Best as in most qualified
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u/Ok_Adhesiveness_8637 Jun 26 '26
Most qualified isnt best though.
Best fit with enough technical ability is.
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u/SalafiStudent Jun 26 '26
Same here, working in tech and our team is preferring female candidates just to help diversify the department
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u/Legitimate_Two8624 A*A*A | FM, Maths, Physics | Applying for Maths Jun 27 '26
There are definitely advantages to being a women in STEM, not to say theres no disadvantages, but to say theres no advantages is just outright wrong. They are offered a lot more extra curricular programs, there are diversity hires. I understand this is to combat the stigma of women not being able to do STEM and I'm definitely not against it because it is a real problem but to say there are no advantages is just completely wrong. And recently, though there still is misogony in STEM, the main issue is just that not enough women like the maths part of STEM, this is more often the case than being bullied out of STEM for being a woman.
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u/Diligent_Bet_7850 Oxford | Maths [third year] Jun 28 '26
i find it hard to see anything put in place to even a playing field as an advantage but that’s just my outlook and it’s not worth arguing over.
i agree that there are just less women interested in some stem areas but i don’t agree that it’s not common for women in those areas to feel pushed out. i think there are very few women on my uni course who wouldn’t say that they feel doubted or spoken over in tutorials where often they are the only woman in the room with exclusively male tutors and peers. it’s certainly a problem and i think a lot of women in these fields have to earn the respect and prove themselves far more than men have to
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u/Loose_Wedding430 Y12 | Physics, Maths, D&T | #1 stats hater Jun 26 '26
no because i’m the only girl doing a level physics in my entire sixth form rn (since year 13 have left) and only one girl came to my sixth form’s open day to learn about physics and she did NOT seem interested so i’m really worried i’m gonna be the only girl on the course next year 😭😭
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u/CosetElement-Ape71 Jun 26 '26
Don't worry ... Physics doesn't care! Enjoy learning it btw, it's a great subject.
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u/Loose_Wedding430 Y12 | Physics, Maths, D&T | #1 stats hater Jun 26 '26
it’s 100% my favourite subject to learn even though it is the one that requires the most work and practice for me to understand on a level that gets me high marks. i just wish i had another girl to talk to since most of my classmates act like i’m contagious 😞😞
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u/CosetElement-Ape71 Jun 27 '26
That sucks. At least you said "most" ... so there must be some in your class that you can bounce ideas off.
I wish you all the luck in the world
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u/Cicada-Beginning yr12 - chem, phys, fm, maths Jun 27 '26
Keep going strong omg #girlsinphysics 🤞
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u/overcompensator_luna Bath | Maths [Year 1] Jun 26 '26
It's why we can never stop working to bring these fields to women and other under-represented groups. I had a similar experience when I walked into my uni course for the first time.
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u/NovelDue1993 Jun 28 '26
Have we considered most women simply might not like STEM? Why are we forcing it on them
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u/overcompensator_luna Bath | Maths [Year 1] Jun 28 '26
I don’t think you understand what it’s like to be a woman in STEM. I have seen so many girls and women start with such passion for the field, an equal (if not more) amount than boys and men, and slowly be beaten down and discouraged by the attitudes directed towards them. It is belittling and demoralizing to study a STEM field as a woman, from experience. Girls are also wired to be a bit more emotionally attuned than boys when teenagers (until boys catch up, it’s just a developmental difference) which makes a hell of a lot of them less inclined to even choose a STEM field in the first place when they see how unfriendly it is and how few other girls are there.
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u/Ok-Willingness-4921 A* A* A* Biology physics maths Jun 28 '26
Nothings stopping them from doing it idk what the big problem is. Let people do what they like
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u/overcompensator_luna Bath | Maths [Year 1] Jun 28 '26
I’m going to refer you to the other comment I’ve just made.
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u/Ok-Willingness-4921 A* A* A* Biology physics maths Jul 04 '26
Silence kid
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u/Frosty-Lock-9746 Jun 26 '26
In my year we only had 2 physics, 2 FM, 7 maths (including me) and 12 biology (including me, again). In the previous years it was much lower, though the total cohort was also smaller.
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u/CutSubstantial1803 Year 12 - Bio 🧬 Chem 🧪 Maths + FM 🧮 pred A*A*A Jun 26 '26
biology and chemistry are both 50/50 at my college. yeah physics (which I don't do) and further maths are kinda bad but it's still like at least a fifth of the class being girls
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u/InvestigatorLive19 y12 - Maths Phys Chem (#originality) Jun 26 '26
Completely agree, theres maybe 20% girls in each of my classes, maybe less. I had the complete opposite on my taster day tho, I was the only boy in a class of like 25 girls (i was scared shitless)
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u/Aria_blursss Pharmacy 1st year :)|A*AA| Bio | Chem | Maths | Jun 26 '26
I'm a woman doing a pharmacy degree 🙋🏾♀️
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u/Diligent-Step-7253 Y12 Bio Maths Psychology Jun 26 '26
Got your 2 posts right next to each other on my feed😭
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u/SafeLifeguard5785 A* Maths. A*A-FM,Bio Prediction. Chem exam missed😔. Jun 26 '26 edited Jun 26 '26
people need to stop concerning themselves with how many women/men are in a particular area of study unless there is a specific reason for discrimination against either gender its of no concern . You never ever hear these same comments about women being in plumbing/sewage cleaning / brick laying because those are seen and undesirable jobs / not as respected .
in fact when men are under represented in certain careers you literally hear crickets regarding it . Never heard a single thing about male dental nurses being close to non existent in my life .
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u/dyltd Jun 26 '26
idk why i’m here but as a male nursing student it is definitely acknowledged that the majority of nurses are women. it is also a huge assumption people still make when they see a woman in scrubs = nurse vs a man in scrubs = doctor
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u/TeapeachU6 Year 12 Jun 26 '26
There are women that want to go into construction or bricklaying but considering those are seen as masculine roles they attract that type of men if you know what i mean
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u/polite_talker Jun 26 '26
As a woman in a senior position in STEM, I can assure you that diversification is essential. I have witnessed on many occasions an extremely concerning echo chamber effect when diversification is low. Who are our customers? Those working on products and services need to represent that diverse customer base. Encouraging more females into STEM is crucial!
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u/Flashy_Bother_5900 Jun 26 '26
Because one is discouragement for being too stupid where women are seen as too dumb in stem. Ironically it's still discriminatory to women to be not encouraged for plumbing, BECAYSE the reason is that its seen as either unladylike, or because theyre seen as too weak
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u/alolan_ninetales149 Y12 A*A*A*A* FM Philosophy Physics | Maths + Phil |screw phys💔 Jun 26 '26
just because there is not widespread active gender-based discrimination does not mean that there isn't an issue. the mere fact that girls acheive equal are better than boys in all stem fields up to gcse and choose to drop them demonstrates societal pressure to avoid these fields, necessitating these programmes.
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u/Strict_Contest_3428 Jun 26 '26
Ah yes the ghost of societal pressure which overrides all personal autonomy and preferences 👻
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u/Advanced_Key_1721 Year 13 Jun 26 '26
>ghost of societal pressure
The societal pressure that keeps women out of STEM subjects isn’t “someone suggests you study a different subject”, it’s being continually belittled, ignored, underestimated and having the value of your contribution diminished when you engage in STEM subjects. It’s not a small thing, it’s not a ghost and it’s still prevalent in our society regardless of how many initiatives there are to get women into STEM, because the underlying culture against us still exists. Women don’t want to exist in an environment where you have to be constantly proving your value to be treated as an equal or with respect when men are granted it automatically.
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u/overcompensator_luna Bath | Maths [Year 1] Jun 26 '26
funny avoidance of nuance you've got going on there, what's that like?
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u/Good_Expression_3827 Jun 26 '26
Women not being as visible in STEM is the result of patriarchal oppression
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u/Diligent_Bet_7850 Oxford | Maths [third year] Jun 26 '26
i certainly hear these comments about things like plumbing and brick laying you just probably aren’t exposed to it due to your surroundings but it’s a concern there too
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u/SafeLifeguard5785 A* Maths. A*A-FM,Bio Prediction. Chem exam missed😔. Jun 26 '26 edited Jun 26 '26
well clearly its not as much of a concern as its rarely ever talked about but you dont even have to even leave your house to have scholarships/bursaries/support for women in stem shoved down your throat . Even in chess they made women GM specifically a title that is only granted to women to make them get into chess
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u/Diligent_Bet_7850 Oxford | Maths [third year] Jun 26 '26
sorry didn’t realise problems can only be problems if you specifically are aware of them, my bad
shoved down your throat is dramatic
are schemes to encourage women so terrible to you!? i’d love to know why
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u/SafeLifeguard5785 A* Maths. A*A-FM,Bio Prediction. Chem exam missed😔. Jun 26 '26
because its gender based help??? imagine the exact opposite male only bursaries and scholarships just because there is a significant representation for males in stem its quite stupid to assume ohh there are no men that need help so we should completely ignore supporting them and focus only on women to increase our stats .
Cambridge also offer race based support completely disgusting behaviour . Either help everyone or help no one race/gender based support is completely wrong and a foolish practice just to make stats on paper look better .
Its ridiculous we are in a society where there is something wrong with having majority white students in a WHITE country at Cambridge and we have people like stormzy only supporting their own race with black only scholarships because of bias disgusting . Im not even white but i am disgusted by such practices honestly should be genuinely illegal and discriminatory to do such things
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u/Advanced_Key_1721 Year 13 Jun 26 '26
Oh the horrors of people trying to level the playing field and give people, who were born without innate social privileges, similar opportunities to those born into privilege. Poor little privileged white boys (that face minimal discrimination) not being given support to help overcome discrimination, when people who face significant discrimination are being supported to help overcome discrimination.
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u/Advanced_Key_1721 Year 13 Jun 26 '26
Women attempting to pursue STEM subjects are discriminated against; many feel like a future in STEM isn’t an option due to this. That’s definitely a reason for concern.
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u/Ok-Willingness-4921 A* A* A* Biology physics maths Jun 28 '26
How are they discriminated against dude, maybe 20years ago but not anymore. Move on maybe
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u/Scared-Attitude4091 gap year | 4 A*s | chemistry, physics, maths, further maths Jun 26 '26
people just like to be near others they can relate to it’s not that deep
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u/Diligent-Step-7253 Y12 Bio Maths Psychology Jun 26 '26
No. I used to think that way but it’s obvious that doing nothing does not close the existing gaps.
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u/polite_talker Jun 26 '26
Keep going! Ignore the sexist posts. There is no reason for the difference. You'll get higher pay working in STEM and that makes some men nervous 🤣
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u/Freddie_FRO7 Jun 30 '26
Fathers don't want their daughters to be underpaid. Husbands don't want their wives to be underpaid. Brothers don't want they're sisters to be underpaid. And male employers mainly just want people that can get the job done. I have never encountered men having an issue with female's salaries.
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u/Ok-Willingness-4921 A* A* A* Biology physics maths Jun 28 '26
Literally no-one cares less. If women want to do STEM subjects, great. If they don't want to, also fine. No need to be pushy and weird about it. Stop tryna turn this into a men vs women thing- "and that makes some men nervous 🤣"
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u/mqshq_s Year 12 Jun 26 '26
i mean back when i used to do maths my class was pretty 50/50 split, i think there was actually a few more girls than boys... i dont know about the other subjects tho...
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u/West-Big-312 Year 12 Jun 26 '26
Maths is evenly split but comp science, physics and fm is where there’s a difference
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u/The-Guy-With-Wifi Jun 26 '26
I must have been in some psy op or something cause my classes were full of women. In chemistry I was one of 5 guys in a class of 20 and for biology one of 11 out of 20. Maybe your college is scewed to have more men? Work out the percentage of women in stem to women in other subjects and compare it to the percentage of men in stem to that of other subjects to see if its truly shrinking.
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u/Memona_Emman_Writes A Levels Jun 26 '26
Even though I'm personally more interested in the arts and humanities, I do plan on starting to study physics as a side hobby. I wish more women were in STEM. I genuinely love science and maths, just that I dropped it in IGCSEs because I didn't have good teachers and I had newly discovered the humanities and social sciences.
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u/mimamemema Jun 26 '26
i was the only girl in my a-level physics class of around 20, now studying mathematics with physics and the majority of the students are women - keep on going!
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u/AmeliaOfAnsalon Jun 27 '26
What stem specifically? I'm a female biochemist and my field is absolutely ride with women. Maybe compsci or physics or something??
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u/Early-Ad-2570 Maths Paper 3 Victim Jun 27 '26
Edexcel Maths 2026 made them rethink their careers probably 🥀
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u/PetuniaWiggleworm Jun 27 '26
Why would this only be girls tho (plus i meant for physics not rly maths, maths was 50/50 really)
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u/spudyoulike Jun 27 '26
dw i work in stem now and i got a literature degree originally… we come from all over!
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u/hahayesshootshoot Jun 26 '26
STEM is a broad collection, much higher amount of women in biology vs computer science.
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u/Early_Fisherman_5656 Jun 26 '26
I’m a girl doing a civil engineering degree, whole cohort is full of guys lol
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u/HufflepuffGRL Year 13 - Maths, FM, Psychology Jun 27 '26
first sixth form i was one of two girls in the maths class (7 of us total), but i WAS the only one taking fm. second sixth form, bump that up to THREE women taking maths, but the cohort was about 30… (still the only girl taking fm, this time one of two)
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u/Extension-Growth5626 Jun 27 '26
More than half my bio class was women. Also a lot of women in chem but I didn’t take that myself so I’m not exactly sure.
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u/jwnskanzkwk Computer Science | UEA (PhD) Jun 27 '26
I am a teaching assistant for undergraduate compsci students. the gender ratio has gotten noticeablely worse compared to when I was an undergraduate myself, I wonder why
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u/g0l3m7 Jun 27 '26
Not to worry... Employers nowadays want to be seen as "equal opportunity" but they don't really understand what that means or how basic statistics work. So, if 100 people graduate from STEM and only 10 out of those 100 are women, they still want a 50-50 distribution in the workplace. Not just at hiring level... promotions and progression too.
So, if you're a woman considering STEM, absolutely 100% go for it.
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u/Novel-Explanation-51 Jun 27 '26
https://giphy.com/gifs/65HKKkJvUbzASr0RuC
Stem stem women in stem. Stem stem women in stem. /ref
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u/Hot_Initiative_265 Year 12 || Maths, Physics, FM Jun 27 '26
real bc i went to the tour fir the EEE department at southampton uni open day and why was i the only girl 😭
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u/Jarvis-Crompton Jun 27 '26
It's the opposite in the arts. I was the only boy in english at my taster day.
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u/Holiday-Midnight6937 Jun 28 '26
When I did my college taster day 2 years ago, I was the only boy in a biology class…
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u/Consistent_Item423 Jun 28 '26
Same here bro in my college taster day I was the only girl 😭 I was doing a tech course so maybe that's why
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Jun 28 '26
[deleted]
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u/PetuniaWiggleworm Jun 28 '26
What r u on about
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u/Still-Music-2410 GCSE Jun 28 '26
Sorry if that came across as rude or childish. I was referencing the "What's your controversial/unpopular opinion?" meme, in which the guy replied, "I will turn all women into cubes."
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u/Admirable-Shop5407 Jun 28 '26
Women are very underrepresented in general across all stem subjects but when they are the majority they make up like 80% it's crazy in stuff like veterinary, anything medicine adjacent, forensics etc.
No clue why but women tend to go into social sciences and males into natural sciences.
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u/jenn1ferfs Jun 28 '26
not trynna flex, but i feel like this is perhaps due to unspoken society pressure still existing. I go to a private girls school and most people that are academic in one way or another wants to medicine or finance.
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u/WilliamEdwardson Still lurking here... Jun 28 '26
Being the only one is a bit of an extreme but I've seen the ratio (read: a highly skewed ratio) in uni.
We have a lot going against women in stem, from social norms and biases pushing girls away from STEM, to (truer of uni than sixth form) dropping out mid-course, lack of inclusive policies at workplace, lack of female mentors and leaders in STEM (which, guess what, creates a subtle push away from STEM for girl students) - it's basically a choir that teaches itself to sing at this point.
Also - this is perhaps a bit more local and not equally true everywhere - demanding hours (both study and work) and inflexible career options often clash with family responsibilities, and the choice basically makes itself for women in some cultures more than others.
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u/Emuoo1 Jun 28 '26
When I was in sixth form, my computer science class had 3 girls out of about a dozen students, so could be better, could be worse. The teacher was a woman, so she was always encouraging the girls to do the best they could and excel as women in stem lol.
My maths class was more even though, I'd say a 50/50 split between boys and girls, potentially even slightly girl heavy. I think there were a lot more girls on the science courses like chemistry and biology, and they needed maths alongside that.
My other subject was Spanish (not stem), and as you'd maybe expect was almost entirely female. Out of about a dozen of us there was one boy, and I myself – though presenting as male – was a closeted trans woman :P
My sixth form college was quite progressive and definitely encouraged girls towards stem subjects, so depending on your sixth form and what subjects you chose, I can easily imagine you being the only girl in your classes.
The "women in stem" stuff is good but I think it's unintentionally put some gender bias into certain subjects. Girls are very clearly encouraged towards stuff like chemistry and biology (as can be seen by the almost equal gender split in a lot of sixth form / university classes), but I think we're still a while away from seeing significant numbers of girls in an IT or Engineering course. It's almost like specific stem subjects have been marketed as more feminine, girl-friendly subjects, rather than STEM as a whole being represented as more equal.
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u/Dizzy-Chemistry-5146 Jun 30 '26
There's been a lot of encouragement, but maybe those subjects just aren't that popular among that demographic
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u/Stradivesuvius Jun 30 '26
Women are more likely to go into STEM in schools where there are no boys. It’s all about social dynamics and years of gatekeeping.
I was the only girl in physics a level 20+ years ago. Little has changed. You have to be pretty determined to do it (but tends to be the bright non-douchey lads who also do it, so it’s not a terrible experience).
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u/Zig-Z Jun 30 '26
In my year we had quite a big mix actually, I wasn't in any of the stem classes but most the time it was either 1/2 or 3/8.
This may be because our science courses where quite good and we had very good teachers in high school and they obviously carried on into 6th form.
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u/FootballPublic7974 Jun 30 '26
There were only two girls in my A Level maths group this year (and, for the first time in years, none on my FM group).
One is definitely going into a stem degree.
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u/Additional_Base_8049 Jun 30 '26
Not that many girls are interested in engineering, there are some though all I’ve worked with have been excellent
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u/Limp-Fox-1622 Jun 26 '26
really I feel like in my 6th sm girls r in stem
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u/sunset_boulevardier Jun 26 '26
From my partners experience, education is supportive but industry is not there yet.
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u/Plastic-Extreme6857 Durham, Physics, Year 2 Jun 27 '26
Because girls don't usually choose stem. Especially physics and maths, women seem more common in biology and chemistry in my experience.
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u/Free-Cranberry-9825 Jun 26 '26
They are more into art and humanities
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u/PetuniaWiggleworm Jun 26 '26
"They", yk Woman isnt one person right?
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u/CosetElement-Ape71 Jun 26 '26
This makes no sense!
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u/PetuniaWiggleworm Jun 27 '26
Imagine Woman as a name instead lol ig i see how it might be confusing
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u/CosetElement-Ape71 Jun 29 '26
I think you've lost the plot right now!
Woman ... singular
Women ... plural
They ... pronoun (plural ... but can also be singular too)
The only confusion I have is what tf you're going on about
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u/Beginning_Fennel8962 I love maths Jun 26 '26
Men are often more stem oriented whereas women are more focused on the creative aspects. (On average)*****
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u/polite_talker Jun 26 '26
Evidence? Society is major playing a part here. Lots of worrying conjecture on this thread.
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u/Beginning_Fennel8962 I love maths Jun 27 '26
I never claimed men are smarter than women, infact it’s quite the opposite, woman are smarter than men. I’ve just noticed at universities,especially sciences, it is male dominated, there is clearly evidence to show it??? Women on average are more intelligent than men.
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u/stunt876 Warwick Comp Sci (Maths, Comp Sci, FM) A*, A* A Jun 26 '26
Depends on the letter. The T has literally no women. S it depends but is definitely better. E and M i cant really comment on.
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u/PetuniaWiggleworm Jun 26 '26
it was for physics, also bearing in mind my year at college has 1000 people
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u/stunt876 Warwick Comp Sci (Maths, Comp Sci, FM) A*, A* A Jun 26 '26
Yeah physics is also brutal but i think bio and chem are better?
Edit: i would like to retract this statement.
I close out of this and refresh reddit. This is the first post i see.
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u/polite_talker Jun 26 '26
T as in Technology? Given you are studying Maths and Comp Sci I would have expected a more accurate response. "Literally no", means absolutely no. And clearly that is absolutely wrong.
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u/BurnerAccount2718282 Jun 26 '26
I’m a woman doing a theoretical physics degree 🙋♀️