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Has Feminism Changed Science?
Do women do science differently? And how about feminists--male or female? The answer to this fraught question, carefully set out in this provocative book, will startle and enlighten every faction in the "science wars."
Has Feminism Changed Science? is at once a history of women in science and a frank assessment of the role of gender in shaping scientific knowledge. Science is both a profession and a body of knowledge, and Londa Schiebinger looks at how women have fared and performed in both instances. She first considers the lives of women scientists, past and How many are there? What sciences do they choose--or have chosen for them? Is the professional culture of science gendered? And is there something uniquely feminine about the science women do? Schiebinger debunks the myth that women scientists--because they are women--are somehow more holistic and integrative and create more cooperative scientific communities. At the same time, she details the considerable practical difficulties that beset women in science, where domestic partnerships, children, and other demanding concerns can put women's (and increasingly men's) careers at risk.
But what about the content of science, the heart of Schiebinger's subject? Have feminist perspectives brought any positive changes to scientific knowledge? Schiebinger provides a subtle and nuanced gender analysis of the physical sciences, medicine, archaeology, evolutionary biology, primatology, and developmental biology. She also shows that feminist scientists have developed new theories, asked new questions, and opened new fields in many of these areas.
Has Feminism Changed Science? is at once a history of women in science and a frank assessment of the role of gender in shaping scientific knowledge. Science is both a profession and a body of knowledge, and Londa Schiebinger looks at how women have fared and performed in both instances. She first considers the lives of women scientists, past and How many are there? What sciences do they choose--or have chosen for them? Is the professional culture of science gendered? And is there something uniquely feminine about the science women do? Schiebinger debunks the myth that women scientists--because they are women--are somehow more holistic and integrative and create more cooperative scientific communities. At the same time, she details the considerable practical difficulties that beset women in science, where domestic partnerships, children, and other demanding concerns can put women's (and increasingly men's) careers at risk.
But what about the content of science, the heart of Schiebinger's subject? Have feminist perspectives brought any positive changes to scientific knowledge? Schiebinger provides a subtle and nuanced gender analysis of the physical sciences, medicine, archaeology, evolutionary biology, primatology, and developmental biology. She also shows that feminist scientists have developed new theories, asked new questions, and opened new fields in many of these areas.
276 pages, Paperback
First published May 28, 1999
About the author
Londa Schiebinger
38 books30 followersLonda Schiebinger is the John L. Hinds Professor of History of Science at Stanford University. She is the author of the award-winning Plants and Empire: Colonial Bioprospecting in the Atlantic World (2004), among many other works.
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
January 1, 2022
Though some facts are outdated, this is a great read and very fascinating. Not too complex, but focuses on facts and doesn’t try to make a narrative out of nothing. Very informative and interesting.
August 29, 2007
This is a fabulously useful overview of classic "women in science" topics. The book is in three parts, covering some history of women in science, "workplace issues" and discrimination against female scientists, and the influence of gender on the form and content of scientific inquiry itself. The last part focuses mainly on biology, where gender is obvious, and contains just enough dismissive remarks about some theorists' attempts to find gender in the physical sciences to make it a safe recommendation for that crochety old committee-member who thinks feminism is built of crazy strawwymyn.
May 5, 2016
Eu esperava uma discussão eminentemente filosófica e epistemológica sobre os métodos e problemas da ciência, sob o escrutínio dos feminismos. Me deparei com um robusto livro histórico sobre as condições gerais da mulher na ciência ocidental (mais nos EUA e pequena parte da Europa, verdade seja dita), bem como suas contribuições nos mais diversos campos.
A discussão caminha para a conclusão geral de que a presença da mulher na academia, somente, não basta. Novas perguntas precisam ser feitas e novos caminhos precisam ser desbravados. As cientistas e militantes feministas já começaram tal empreitada, e cabe ao nós, interessados em geral, avançar nessa grande reforma da atividade científica, que pede, ao fim e ao cabo, uma reforma nas estruturas de dominação patriarcais que definem gênero, conforme define Londa.
A discussão caminha para a conclusão geral de que a presença da mulher na academia, somente, não basta. Novas perguntas precisam ser feitas e novos caminhos precisam ser desbravados. As cientistas e militantes feministas já começaram tal empreitada, e cabe ao nós, interessados em geral, avançar nessa grande reforma da atividade científica, que pede, ao fim e ao cabo, uma reforma nas estruturas de dominação patriarcais que definem gênero, conforme define Londa.
January 10, 2017
I really enjoyed this (even if it's now a bit dated). Very readable; the author obviously took pains to leave the academic jargon behind. Kind of rage-inducing, because you'd think and hope that opportunities for women in science would be more fair by now. I really think everyone considering a science career (male and female) should read this book.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews