The Scotland school subject choice and gender clash - and why it starts at pre-school

Part of the answer on how to fix this is getting more girls studying science, technology, engineering and maths [STEM] subjects at school - but does Scotland need to go even further than that and start tackling gender stereotypes at pre-school level?

Labour MSP Pam Duncan-Glancy said more needs to be done with children at a young age to inspire the next generation of female STEM professionals.

“At playgroup and pre-school level, girls and boys segregate one another themselves into gender stereotypes,” Ms Duncan-Glancy said. “We have girls playing with dolls and boys playing with trains and bricks. It has an influence over what they think is for them. 

“We need to create an environment where gender stereotypes of boys and girls are addressed early on, and that needs to be in early years.”

It may just be fun and games for Scottish infants, but Ms Duncan-Glancy says how children play is having an influence over what school subjects they think is for them. These stereotypes last all the way through the education system and then have a knock-on effect on the type of jobs children are going to get after school, research has shown.

Ms Duncan-Glancy said: “Research by Girlguiding in 2017 found that half of girls said there were gender stereotypes at school, and that reinforced what subjects they picked.

“An SQA [Scottish Qualifications Authority] study in 2021 found girls were more likely to study art, French, fashion, food technology and childcare, whereas boys appeared to study computing science, physics and graphic communication.”

Unsurprisingly, the subjects children choose to do at school affects what jobs they are likely to have after they leave school - and it means less women are going into lucrative STEM careers.

Ms Duncan-Glancy, who is Scottish Labour’s education spokeswoman, said: “We know young girls and women are more likely to have high levels of educational attainment, but that doesn’t lead to better labour market outcomes. Even if we do get girls into STEM, they don’t progress up the career ladder in the same way as men do.

“In the future we are going to need more engineers, technicians, there will be hundreds of thousands of jobs that will need to be filled, and we can’t afford to lock out half the population from it. We need to fill those gaps if we are to grow the economy and have enough engineers and robotics specialists needed to create the economy of the future.

“That won’t happen overnight, but we need to make sure our education system is fit for the future by supporting young people to learn what they want to learn and get the jobs of the future they want.”

There are wider impacts on the rest of society too, as these gaps in skills influence sexism and misogyny as well.

Ms Duncan-Glancy said: “This all impacts on wealth inequality as well as sexism and misogyny and that all has an influence on young girls and what they study when they are at school.

“So we need to take those problems into account when schools are planning as well.”

So what is the solution here?

One option is showcasing women in STEM more to school girls and showing how what they are doing at school can be relevant to the real world of work.

“When it comes to picking school subjects, we need to show how they link to the workforce, so girls can see something they can work towards,” said Ms Duncan-Glancy.

“There are many inspiring women in STEM who have strong, powerful careers, but there are not enough of them to get young girls to understand it can be for them too.

“We need more inspiration in schools so children can realise they can get a job in gaming if they are good at art, and robotics will be needed in the food and drink industry in the future.”

Ms Duncan-Glancy sits on the opposition benches in Holyrood. She said she believes the Scottish Government needs to be doing more to tackle these issues, and warns the Scottish economy may not be fit for purpose in the future if changes are not made now to gender stereotypes.

“Strategic learning and industrial strategy is not being done by this government, and I’ve not been reassured by the evidence I see whenever I talk to people in industry,” she said.

“There is not enough evidence the government is doing this. Another issue is teacher shortages - that also needs to be addressed in key subject areas to help inspire children into these industries.”

The Scottish Government has been approached for comment.