Zimbabwean female participation in physics: The influence of identity formation on perception and participation

Figures & data

Table 1. Number of students doing physics and their teachers by gender in 2014

School/district/nation	Students		Teachers
	Female	Male	Female	Male
Low density school ^1	10	56	0	2
High density school ^2	2	36	0	2
Rural school ^3	2	12	0	2
All-girls school	50	None	0	1
Gweru District Schools Statistics (2012)	35	94]
Gweru District Schools Statistics (2013)	40	119]
National Statistics (2011)	187	1,170]

Sources: Zimbabwe Schools’ Education Council (ZimSEC) (2011) and Gweru district’ schools’ statistics (2012, 2013).

¹ Middle income.

² Low income.

³ Impoverished.

Table 2. School category and participants’ subject choices

School context	No of student	Subjects
Low density urban schools • Educated community • Middle income of above $400 • Well resourced • Five laboratories (three for seniors and two for juniors)	S1	Mathematics and Physics
	S4	Mathematics only
High density urban schools • Low income (between $201-$400) • Most people not educated • Not well resourced • Two laboratories only (one for seniors and one for juniors)	S2	Mathematics and Physics
	S3	Physics without Mathematics
	S5	Mathematics only
Rural school • Impoverished below $200 • Uneducated community • Poorly resourced • No laboratories	S6	Mathematics only
	S7	Mathematics only
All-girls urban school • Educated community • Well resourced o Six laboratories (three for seniors and three for juniors)	S8	Mathematics and Physics
	S9	Mathematics only

Figure 1. Female students doing physics and maths in the four schools

Table 3. Female Students’ perceptions towards physics

S1	S2	S8	S3	S4	S5	S6	S7	S9
Doing physics and maths	Doing physics and maths	Doing physics and maths	Doing physics without maths	Doing maths only	Doing maths only	Doing maths only	Doing maths only	Doing maths only
Female students’ perceptions of physics
Masculine	Masculine	Masculine	Masculine	Masculine	Masculine	Masculine	Masculine	Masculine
It’s taught by male teachers	It’s taught by male teachers	It’s taught by male teachers	It’s taught by male teachers	It’s taught by male teachers	It’s taught by male teachers	It’s taught by male teachers	It’s taught by male teachers	It’s taught by male teachers
It’s hard	A bit hard	It’s hard	It’s kind of hard	A very difficult	Very hard	Must be very interesting	Must be very interesting	It’s interesting
Challenging	Challenging	Challenging	Challenging	Complicated and abstract	It’s complex and abstract	Perceived as hard	I am told it is hard	Irrelevant to my career aspirations
Too involving	Too involving	Demanding and requires logic	Requires a lot of concentration	Very boring	Physics is very boring			It’s Challenging
Very interesting	Very interesting	Very interesting	Very interesting	Have negative perception of physics	Have negative perceptions of physics
It’s very important	Physics is very important	It’s very important	Very important	Lacked female role models	No female role models,
Very relevant to daily life	Physics is practical to daily life	Very practical	Applicable to daily life	Irrelevant to my career aspirations	Irrelevant to my career choice
Am to work harder	Has to work hard	Working very hard	Physics is the love of my life and hence I am working hard

Figure 2. Female students enrolled for physics and mathematics or mathematics only in the co-educational schools

Figure 3. Male students enrolled for physics and mathematics or mathematics only in the co-educational schools

Gweru District Schools Statistics . (2012). Midlands province statistics . Gweru: Government Printers.

 Google Scholar

Gweru District Schools Statistics . (2013). Midlands province statistics . Gweru: Government Printers.

 Google Scholar

Zimbabwe Schools Examination Statistics . (2011). ZimSEC national statistics . Harare: Government Printers.

 Google Scholar