Swop your daughter’s Barbie for some Lego

LONDON: Girls should play with Lego and Meccano instead of Barbie dolls, one of Britain’s leading female scientists has said.

Dame Athene Donald, professor of experimental physics at Cambridge University, believes the wrong toys hold back girls who might otherwise develop an interest in science and engineering.

She highlighted the shortage of women studying science subjects – just a fifth of those taking physics at A level are girls. Dame Athene also criticised schools for “lazily” finding work experience placements for pupils that reinforce gender stereotypes.

Speaking before her inaugural address as president of the British Sci- ence Association, she said: “We need to change the way we think about boys and girls from a very early age. Does the choice of toys matter? I believe it does. We introduce social constructs by stereotyping what toys boys and girls receive from the earliest age.

“Girls’ toys are typically liable to lead to passivity – combing the hair of Barbie, for instance – not building, imagining or being creative with Lego or Meccano.”

Businesses complain of a lack of qualified students with science, technology, engineering and maths degrees, and one way to address this would be “to ensure half the population doesn’t feel it’s not for them”, she said. – Daily Mail