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Persistent discourses in physics education: gender neutrality and the gendering of competence

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Abstract

In her article, Karin Due presents us with a contradiction in physics: the construction of physics as a symbolically masculine discipline alongside a simultaneous discourse of the “gender-neutrality” of the discipline. Due’s article makes an important contribution to the study of the gendering of physics practices, particularly in group dynamics, and how this serves to simultaneously reinforce the two competing discourses of physics as a masculine discipline, and the discourse of physics as a gender neutral discipline. Due also suggests that an implication of this contradiction is a limited number of available positions for girls in physics compared to those available to boys. I wish to take up this observation and discuss how available positions for boys and girls in physics are related quite closely to two other concepts discussed in Due’s article: competence and recognition.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Université de Montréal, Montréal, QC, Canada

    Allison Gonsalves

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  1. Allison Gonsalves
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Correspondence to Allison Gonsalves.

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Lead Editors: K. Scantlebury and A. Hussénius

This paper responds to central issues raised in Karin Due's manuscript entitled: Who is the competent physics student? A study of students’ positions and social interaction in small-group discussions.

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Gonsalves, A. Persistent discourses in physics education: gender neutrality and the gendering of competence. Cult Stud of Sci Educ 9, 461–467 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11422-012-9423-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11422-012-9423-1

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