3 research outputs found
Gender and mathematics: pathways to mathematically intensive fields of study in Australia
Women in Australia have gone from being under-represented to
being over-represented in university education, but they are
still far less likely than men to engage in mathematically
intensive science fields including engineering, information
technology and the physical sciences. With a rapid growth of
employment opportunities in these fields, women need quantitative
skills to become competitive in technologically and
science-oriented niches of the labour market. The persisting
gender gap in mathematically intensive fields is important also
because it may reinforce the stereotypical belief that males are
naturally more talented in mathematics, abstract thinking and
technical problem solving. The prevalence of such a belief drives
adolescents to aspire to gender-typical occupations and thus
reproduces gender inequality. Given this, there is an urgent need
to systematically examine the extent to which socialisation
influences and educational experiences in adolescence affect the
participation in advanced high school mathematics and
mathematically intensive university qualifications. The key
question to consider is why engagement in advanced mathematics
and cognate disciplines remains so strongly segregated by
gender.
This thesis offers a comprehensive examination of this issue in
Australia by drawing on the theories of gender stratification and
educational psychology. The scope of this examination is broader
than any other Australian study of this issue to date. I adopt a
life course perspective to study the impact of teenage
educational experiences and occupational expectations on the
gender differences in later pursuits of advanced mathematics
subjects in Year 12 and mathematically intensive fields at
university. To achieve this, I use multilevel logistic regression
models to analyse the data from the 2003 cohort of the
Longitudinal Survey of Australian Youth. The data comprise a
nationally representative sample of adolescents who turned 15
around 2003 and entered the labour market in the following
decade.
Occupational expectations are crucial in explaining why boys are
considerably more likely than girls to enrol in advanced
mathematics subjects in Year 12. These expectations, however, are
less influential than the combined effect of self-assessed
mathematical competence of students and their achievement in
mathematics. The gender gap in Year 12 advanced mathematics
enrolment would disappear completely should we succeed in
generating the same levels of self-assessed mathematical
competence and in fostering similar levels of early achievement
in mathematics across both genders. To achieve gender parity in
the choice of a mathematically intensive university major, we
would also have to persuade teenagers of both genders to aspire
to similar careers and have similar confidence in their
mathematical abilities.
Apart from individual micro-social characteristics of students,
single-sex schooling enhances the participation of girls in
advanced high school mathematics and related fields of study at
university. The advantage of all-girls education is evident in
these analyses even after considering the pre-existing
differences between single-sex and coeducational schools in
school resources, teacher quality and the policy of selectivity
in student admissions. These results suggest that all-girls
secondary education provides an environment that somewhat
counters gender stereotypes and fosters mathematically intensive
studies, not only in high school but also at university
Seminar on Fisheries Extension Cochin; Status reports and background papers
The organisers of the Seminar had requested the different
States/Union Territories to prepare the Status Reports on fisheries Extension in an uniform manner and have provided certain guidelines on the coverage of the report. The subject areas-in which information was solicited were given code numbers and also titles/subtitles etc, Most of the States have prepared their Reports as per the suggested coverage, whereas a few have provided information in a simplified manner. Some of the Reports contain only the code
numbers and not the titles/sub-titles