Science as a male paradigm?

[S L Forsburg]

Susan Hawes (shawes at astro.ocis.temple.edu) wrote
....(stuff deleted).....
> Of course, it is also possible that women's low expectations in
> science may also have roots in the lower expectations of girls to succeed
> in scientific subjects at school.

Or in the general feeling that you don't belong.  If they look at you like
a dog with two heads when you do well in Chem 1A, the signal you are getting
is that you don't belong.

> I wanted to add to Pam's question of what can we do about it? Of course,
> empowering women, making them appear smart and capable is only a small part
> of the process. If women researchers obtain fewer grants, which a German
> study showed (I can't remember the actual organisation that this occured
> at), less laboratory space and access to organising commitees (the MIT
> study) it is not women that need to change but the scientific
> establishment. I think that is where women (and men) in science need to
> actively become involved within their own institutions.

Oh yes, very much so!  But trying to turn the Titanic takes a long time.
We wear out.  We have to make sure we don't get flung overboard in 
the process--they're aren't enough of us to storm the bridge and
seize the wheel.

> The other part may be in realising that the scientific establishment is
> fundamentally male, language and organisation. There have been a number of
> feminists that have suggested that women are alienated from science as
> science itself is a male ethos: seeking truths not just for knowledge but
> to control and manipulate being a male paradigm. I would be interested in
> what other members of this list think about that.

I'm not sure I would agree with the idea that we seek truth to manipulate--
that is I don't think science itself is inherently gendered.  But I do
think the practise of science adhere to a particularly cultural structure
that is excessively competitive and heirarchical, unwelcoming of people who
don't fit that model, and fundamentally conservative. 

-- 
-susan
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S L Forsburg, PhD  forsburg at salk.edu
Molecular Biology and Virology Lab          
The Salk Institute, La Jolla CA 
http://pingu.salk.edu/~forsburg/lab.html

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