London - Girls are still being put off science and engineering and this starts in early childhood with sexist toys and attitudes, according to one of Britain's leading scientists.
Barbie dolls rather than chemistry sets are being pushed at young girls, who find it difficult to follow an educational path towards a career in science, said Dame Athene Donald, professor of experimental physics at Cambridge University.
Speaking before her inaugural address as the new president of the British Science Association, Dame Athene said that gender stereotyping starts very early, often with the kind of toys children play with, which fosters the attitude that science is for boys, not for girls.
“We need to change the way we think about boys and girls and what's appropriate for them from a very early age. Does the choice of toys matter? I believe it does,” Dame Athene said.
“We introduce social constructs by stereotyping what boys and girls receive from the earliest age. Girls' toys are typically liable to lead to passivity - combing the hair of Barbie, for instance - not building, imaging or being creative with Lego or Meccano,” she said.
“I'm sure it's not only down to that, but it can't help. If a girl has never been given the opportunity to take things apart or play with a chemistry set, it must influence them,” she added.
Despite attempts to encourage girls to take physics, maths and other “hard sciences”, only a few are doing so. In her own subject, physics, only a fifth of A-level students are female, Dame Athene said.
“We need to change the mindsets of teachers and parents alike. The problem of how we introduce gender stereotyping for our children starts incredibly early. I know there are people who think that what children do at age four is irrelevant at their A-level choices, but I'm not so sure,” she said.
“Evidence suggests that many children make up their minds, certainly about what they don't want to do, around the time they go to secondary school.... Girls as young as seven are saying 'engineering is not for me' - but how do they know that at such an early age?” she asked.
“It seems as if our society expects children at the height of adolescence to make these absolutely fundamental decisions when they are swayed by things of the moment and by cultural and peer-group pressure - never mind parents and teachers,” Dame Athene added.
“In most other countries around the world, children are simply not allowed not to study maths right up until they leave school. Indeed they are not allowed to narrow their choices in the drastic way our so-called A-level gold standard requires,” she said.
“We need an informed citizenship who understands how science operates more than ones stuffed full of disparate facts that they can't pull together.
“I hope that politicians heed the centrality of this message, for all our sakes.”
The Independent