This year I've managed to be involved with two large-scale Outreach events: Stargazing Live, Portsmouth and The Big Bang at the NEC in Birmingham, with Out of This World Learning. At both events (which involved such hi-jinks as making a solar system with people as planets and launching compressed-air paper rockets into the ceiling of the NEC) I started noticing something:
The participants (mostly, but not exclusively, children dragging their parents along) were balanced approximately 50:50 female to male.
What's more, there was no trend in interest, enthusiasm or aptitude between the genders - as, I would expect of course, but it's quite satisfying to have evidence to back oneself up with. This made me rather happy and I thought it was worth sharing!
Here's to the future generations of Valentina Tereshkovas and Helen Sharmans!
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