The gender dilemma: Observations of female interactions in a suburban high school advanced biology class

This paper addresses the issue of the lack of female representation in science. Current research suggests that the gender imbalance in science is due to social and psychological factors, and not because women are less intelligent. Some of the factors involved in this dilemma include: the masculinization of science, classroom experiments and subject matter that do not appeal to the interests of women, and lack of teacher support. The purpose \u27 of this paper was to go into an advanced biology classroom, and identify some of the factors involved in getting the women present, to continue pursuing advanced biology courses. After conducting observations, it was concluded that the teacher plays a tremendous role in whether a female student feels safe and competent in the science classroom