No space for girliness in physics: Understanding and overcoming the masculinity of physics

Abstract

Allison Gonsalves' article on "women doctoral students' positioning around discourses of gender and competence in physics" explores narratives of Canadian women physicists concerning their strategies to gain recognition as physicists. In my response to her rewarding and inspiring analysis I will reflect on her findings and arguments and put them into a broader context of research in gender and physics. In addition to her promising strategies to make physics attractive and welcoming to all genders I want to stress two more aspects of the tricky problem: diversity and contextuality of physics. © 2013 Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht.