Context Matters: Differential Gendering of Physics in Arabic-speaking, Hebrew-speaking, and Single-Sex State Schools in Israel

Although physics is one of the most male-dominated educational fields in Europe and North America, this is not the case in all parts of the world. The present study investigates contextual variability in the physics gender gap by leveraging unique characteristics of the Israeli state educational sys...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Sex roles 2022-06, Vol.86 (11-12), p.620-633
Main Authors: Blank, Carmel, Charles, Maria, Feniger, Yariv, Pinson, Halleli
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Behavioral Science and Psychology
Course Selection (Students)
Gender
Gender segregation
Gender Studies
Medicine/Public Health
National Curriculum
Original Article
Physics
Psychology
Schools
Semitic Languages
Sex education
Sexual division of labor
Single sex education
Single Sex Schools
Sociocultural factors
Sociology
STEM education
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Summary:Although physics is one of the most male-dominated educational fields in Europe and North America, this is not the case in all parts of the world. The present study investigates contextual variability in the physics gender gap by leveraging unique characteristics of the Israeli state educational system, including its highly standardized national curriculum and its distinct school sectors that differ on key analytical dimensions. First, comparison of schools serving different sociocultural groups reveals strong overrepresentation of boys in advanced physics courses in the Hebrew-speaking but not the Arabic-speaking school sector. This pattern aligns with previous cross-national studies showing more gender-integration of STEM fields in contexts characterized by more socioeconomic precarity and in Muslim-majority societies. Second, comparison of advanced physics course-taking between coeducational and single-sex schools provides no support for claims about the degendering effects of single-sex education. Results are consistent with accounts that treat educational gender segregation as the product of contextually contingent sorting processes rather than stable characteristics of boy and girl students. Initiatives aimed at addressing the gender gap in STEM fields must be calibrated to the diverse sociocultural contexts in which these sorting processes unfold.
ISSN:0360-0025
1573-2762
DOI:10.1007/s11199-022-01292-3