Material practices and experiences "kick back". A socio-material analysis of gendered educational choice

Abstract

The article examines gender and recruitment for mathematics and science through a close reading of four women’s stories about choosing a mathematics and science education, retrieved from a more comprehensive study of educational choice. Personal interest for the subject is an established understanding of what influence the educational choice. Strategies and campaigns for recruiting women for mathematics and science have thus been geared to awaken precisely women’s interest as women In this article, we move away from an understanding of gender as a background variable to explain "interest in mathematics and science", and instead show how educational choice can be understood as socio-material practices. In the interaction between human and material actors there is also bodily experiences, something which gives gender active significance (agency). Thus, the article contributes to an extended understanding of the components that are included in educational choice and how these components relate to one another, which in turn provides new opportunities for understanding how educational choices can beaffected through material experiences and practices.

Keywords

• Socio-materiality
• educational choice
• young females
• narratives