Girls’ science education: choice, solidarity and culture

There is a wide field of literature on issues of gender and science, most of which has some relevance to the science education of girls. Statistics from a few large‐scale projects, which have confirmed or disconfirmed some well known hypotheses for the problems related to girls’ reluctance to study physics, are reviewed. The exercise of choice is then explored from several theoretical aspects as an identity confirming action which relates to national and home cultures, to adolescence, and to solidarity with gender groupings. Argument from theory and anecdote are used to suggest that different choice may be made by older females.