Women doing science –
Londa Schiebinger – “Not so few”
“great women” – Marie Curie, Lise Meitner, Barbara
McClintock
lesser-known – Caroline Herschel, Emilie du Chatelet
(“Madame Newton”), Rosalind Franklin
Schiebinger – “Why so few?”
Institutional/social barriers:
Lack of access to education
Under-employment
Science as tough profession
Involved with science in alternate ways: illustrators, translators, women’s colleges
Why does it matter?
Fairness, opportunity, fun
Sometimes women scientists ask different questions –
case of primatology, Jane Goodall
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Women doing medicine –
Doctors/nurses/healers – Elizabeth Blackwell, Alice
Hamilton, Margaret Sanger
Why so few? Lack of access
Alternate path – Women’s Medical College of Philadelphia
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Women doing engineering –
Students at land-grant colleges early 1900s
WWII – Curtiss-Wright Cadettes (ISU)
Postwar – RPI, Georgia Tech, Caltech
Why so few? Lack of access
Socialization – boys’ toys vs. girls’ toys
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Women as subjects of science –
Schiebinger – look at biology, psychology
Aristotle – woman as “mutilated man”
Idea carried into Middle Ages, into 19thC – Edward Clarke, women don’t have capacity to study hard in college (women’s colleges challenge such notions)
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Women as subjects of medicine –
Aristotle/Galen – “hysteria”
History of pregnancy, childbirth, contraception
Modern horror stories – Dalkon Shield, DES
Feminist cause – 1974 Our Bodies, Ourselves
Activism – breast cancer research
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Women as users/makers of technology –
Typewriters – lady clerks
Home equipment/kitchen appliances (ISU)
Cars – gas vs. electric
Aviation – Amelia Earhart, WASPs
Three principles –
1. Finding women in science means knowing where to look.
2. Science is not done in a vacuum.
3. The answers you get depend on the questions you ask.