Females’ exclusion from physics: Examining two deterring factors

Abstract

Females’ low participation in post-compulsory physics education has been a major concern for researchers over the past five decades. The present study focuses attention on two major deterring factors, the female pedagogy-sensitivity effect and the stereotype effect. The objectives of this study are to uncover the constituents and meanings of these factors by (a) analyzing the perspectives of female university science students and, (b) evaluating differences in their impacts among females choosing to major in biology compared to females choosing to major in physics. The study contributes to our understanding of how these deterring effects impact on females along their educational path and particularly in their tertiary education.