Women, science, and myth: gender beliefs from antiquity to the present

520 Pages·2008·4.09 MB·English

by  Sue Vilhauer Rosser

Women, Science,
and Myth

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Women, Science,
and Myth
Gender Beliefs from
Antiquity to the Present
S V. R
UE OSSER
E
DITOR

Santa Barbara, California Denver, Colorado Oxford, England
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Copyright 2008 by ABC-CLIO, Inc.
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Rosser, Sue Vilhauer.
Women, science, and myth : gender beliefs from antiquity to the
present / Sue V. Rosser.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-1-59884-095-7 (hardcover : alk. paper)
1. Sex role—Research. 2. Sex differences—Research.
3. Sex customs. I. Title.
HQ1075.R674 2008
305.4—dc22 2008009359
12 11 10 9 8 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
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Contents
INTRODUCTION, vii
Chronological Section: Changes in Myths of Gender over Time
ANTIQUITY, 3
MEDIEVAL ERA, 17
RENAISSANCE, 31
THE 18TH CENTURY, 43
THE 19TH CENTURY, 61
EARLY 20TH CENTURY, 79
Thematic Section: Concepts of Gender in Different Contexts
Disciplines
CHEMISTRY, 95
PHYSICS/ASTRONOMY, 103
MATHEMATICS, 109
COMPUTER SCIENCE, 115
BIOLOGY, 123

PSYCHOLOGY, 129
MEDICINE, 135
TECHNOLOGY, 141
Aspects of Human Biology and Behavior
THE BRAIN, 149
COGNITIVE ABILITIES, 155
MENTAL ILLNESS, 161
PERSONALITY/RATIONALITY/EMOTIONALITY, 167
ENDOCRINOLOGY AND HORMONES, 173
MENSTRUATION/MENOPAUSE/PMS, 177
v
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vi CONTENTS
EARLY MODERN HEALTH, 181
GENDER/SEX—HOW CONJOINED, 187
HOMOSEXUALITY, 193
RACE, 201
NATURE/NURTURE, 207
Institutions
WOMEN’S EDUCATION, 213
MOTHERHOOD, 223
RELIGION, 229
UNIVERSITIES, 235
FEDERAL AGENCIES, 249
INDUSTRY, 259
PROFESSIONAL SOCIETIES, 263
Discrimination
DISCRIMINATION, 273
WOMEN SCIENTISTS AS LEADERS, 283
NOBEL LAUREATES, 295
GENDER AND OCCUPATIONAL INTERESTS, 319
Other Perspectives on Gender and Myths and Beliefs in Scientific Research
FEMINIST PHILOSOPHY OF SCIENCE, 325
BIOLOGISTS WHO STUDY GENDER/FEMINISM, 337
HISTORIANS OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY WHO FOCUS ON FEMINISM, 347
PRIMATOLOGISTS WHO FOCUS ON FEMALES/GENDER, 357
CRITIQUES OF SCIENCE, 365
MARXISM/SOCIALISM AND FEMINISM/GENDER, 373
ECOFEMINISM, 381
CYBERFEMINISM, 387
RACE , POSTCOLONIAL GENDER, AND SCIENCE, 393
FEMINIST SCIENCE STUDIES, 399
WOMEN’S HEALTH MOVEMENT, 405
SCIENCE FICTION, 419
CONCLUSION, 427
APPENDIX OF STATISTICAL TABLES, 437
GLOSSARY, 445
BIBLIOGRAPHY, 469
INDEX, 481
ABOUT THE EDITOR, 501
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Introduction
S V. R
UE OSSER
Both gender and science represent pervasive, powerful, and determining fac-
tors in 21st-century U.S. society, just as they do in most countries today and
have in most cultures since antiquity. A number of myths and beliefs surround
both gender and science.
Everyone has a gender. Typically the first question asked about a healthy
baby when born is the sex, assuming that the parents don’t know this already
from prenatal tests. One of the myths is that biological sex determines gender.
As the entry in this volume on sex/gender describes, it need not do so, since
many opportunities occur for disconnections between sex and gender. Be-
cause biological sex typically correlates with gender roles, expectations, and
stereotypes in the particular culture, the response to this question sets off
a series of reactions and behaviors in parents, relatives, friends, health care
workers, and others to the newborn baby.
If the baby is a girl, in addition to receiving a pink cap and diapers with
different reinforced padding than that given to boys, the adults will talk more
to her and describe her as smaller with finer features than they would the
same baby if told he was a boy. These responses suggest the initiation of a
series of behaviors, expectations, and stereotypes that will determine parame-
ters and norms for w hom that baby is likely to marry, what career she is more
likely to have, and a probable series of other likes, interests, and outcomes
for her life. If the baby is a boy, he’ll be described as larger, be talked to less,
and be given more visual stimulation. The adults will also anticipate gender
determinations based on his sex such as falling in love with a woman and
being more likely to become an engineer than a nurse. These determinations
result from the beliefs that masculinity and femininity are associated with par-
ticular roles and behaviors in a particular culture, time, or society.
Just as everyone has a gender that exerts a powerful influence in deter-
mining social behaviors, career choice, and choice of life partner, science also
exerts a powerful and determining influence on most people’s lives. In our so-
ciety, for most people, science provides the explanation for why the physical
vii
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viii INTRODUCTION
world operates as it does, causes of health and disease in the human body,
and even for much psychological and social behavior. Because we believe
that science accurately explains and helps us to negotiate our world, we may
change our behavior because we trust the results of scientific research. For
example, many people stopped smoking when the scientific evidence demon-
strated a link correlating smoking with lung cancer and other diseases. Be-
cause most people now believe the mounting evidence for global warming,
U.S. consumers have begun to push for fuel efficiency and alternatives to
fossil fuels.
Myths and beliefs also represent powerful forces held by everyone that
partially determine their behavior. The dictionary defines myth first as a tra-
ditional story focusing on the deeds of gods or heroes, often in explaining
some natural phenomenon such as the origin of the sun; the fifth definition
states that myth is a false opinion, belief, or idea. The definition of belief over-
laps with that of myth. The first definition, “acceptance of the truth or actuality
of anything without certain proof,” is followed by “something held to be true
or actual.” Belief denotes “acceptance with or without proof or strong emo-
tional feelings.”
Women, Science, and Myth: Gender Beliefs from Antiquity to the Present
explores the interactions between gender and scientific research both over
time and in relationship to particular topics or themes. The first section of the
volume uses a chronological historical approach; the second examines gen-
der and science thematically.
Chronological Section: Changes in Myths of Gender over Time
Myths and beliefs about gender expectations and stereotypes have changed
over time and vary today in different cultures. In the 18th-century United States,
most secretaries were men; today most secretaries are women. As pointed
out in “Gender and Occupational Interests,” in the 1960s in the former Soviet
Union, most physicians were women, while in the United States at that time,
most physicians were men. Today, less than 50 years later in the United States,
50 percent of medical students are women. As discussed in “Gender/Sex—
How Conjoined,” although the association of gender with particular occupa-
tions and stereotypes of characteristics attributed to each gender may differ
among cultures, one universal constant remains: whatever men do holds higher
value and prestige in a particular culture, although what they do in that cul-
ture may be done by women and associated with lower pay and prestige in
another culture.
Myths and beliefs about science have also changed over time and differ
somewhat today in various cultures. Before Galileo, people believed that the
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INTRODUCTION ix
earth was the center of the universe and that the sun revolved around it. Ar-
istotle believed that women were “weaker and colder than men.” As described
in “Antiquity,” “According to Aristotle, femaleness should be considered ‘a
deformity, though one which occurs in the ordinary course of nature.’ From
the very beginning, he explains, males and females develop differently. Al-
though while in the womb the female takes longer to develop than the male,
the process reverses after the child is born. Everything is speeded up in the
female—she reaches puberty, maturity, and old age sooner” (Aristotle, De
generatione animalium I. 20728a 18–29; 4.6775a 13–15).
Myths and beliefs also surround gender and science, both historically and
today. One of the most persistent beliefs is that only men can be scientists.
As Caroline Herzenberg points out in “Medieval Era,” in the Middle Ages sci-
ence was not a profession as we think of it today. Educated members of the
upper class held most scientific knowledge and undertook most experiments.
Since very few women had access to education, they did not become scien-
tists. Because the Christian Church played a central role in scholarly activities,
including science, some nuns practiced medicine; Abbess Hildegaard of Bin-
gen also wrote significant scientific treatises on cosmology, botany, medicine,
and natural history.
As Cindy Klestinec underlines in “Renaissance,” Francis Bacon laid the
architecture for early modern science. Bacon rejected the excessive reliance
on the works of the ancients, proposing observation and experimentation as
means to scientific knowledge. Although he ridiculed the Church’s emphasis
on scholasticism, he retained its views on the subordinate position of women.
Women did not even qualify as witnesses able to validate scientific experi-
ments, let alone as experimenters.
In “The 18th Century,” as Marilyn Ogilvie emphasizes, this notion that only
men could be scientists was reinforced by the belief that men and women
had radically different natures. Women who did receive an education in the
18th century, either at home or in boarding schools, followed curricula that
emphasized music a nd fine arts, reflecting the belief that their nature differed
from the male nature; males were taught a curriculum that included science.
As Narin Hassan points out in “The 19th Century,” Romanticism challenged
the more mechanical notions of science but did not lead to substantial in-
creases in women’s participation in scientific fields. In “Women’s Education,”
Amy Bix suggests that women did not begin to receive educations in science
until the women’s colleges and public land-grant institutions were established
in the late 19th century in the United States, although most were encouraged
to pursue nonscientific courses of study.
The entries “Early 20th Century” and “Discrimination” underline the strug-
gles of women to become scientists and to have their work accepted by
their male colleagues as valid science. Today, as described in “Gender and
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x INTRODUCTION
Occupational Interests,” women have reached parity in degree attainment
only in some of the social sciences and in the biological or life sciences. In
computer science, engineering, and some of the physical sciences, women
receive less than one quarter of the degrees. Despite increases in women’s
degrees, educational attainment for women has not translated into equal
employment opportunities for women scientists in government, industry, or
academia. A dearth of women scientists persists, particularly in powerful lead-
ership and decision-making positions in all sectors.
Why does the myth or belief persist that women shouldn’t be scientists? Is
it discrimination, historical legacy, biological difference, or choice? An equally
interesting question is, As most scientists are men, what impact does this have
on the kind of science produced? Evelyn Fox Keller asked, Does gender mat-
ter for science? (Keller 1985).
Does Gender Matter for Science?
As outlined by Chris Cuomo in “Critiques of Science,” the scientific method
emphasizes objectivity, autonomy, and distance of observer from the object of
study. Keller (1985) used object relations theory to explain that having women
as primary caretakers for most children in our society may result in the en-
couragement of more boys to be separate, distant, and autonomous from the
female caretaker from whom the boys are distinguishing their gender identity,
compared to girls who are permitted to remain closer and more dependent.
More males than females will feel comfortable with scientific approaches and
careers because of this socialization; the science they create will in turn reflect
those same characteristics of objectivity, autonomy, and separation.
Engineering represents a significant example of the conjoining of masculin-
ity with technology. As Amy Bix points out in “Technology,” the military, until
recently, included only men, and men built roads and bridges and developed
much technology; t herefore, engineering, the military, and masculinity be-
came tightly conjoined.
Equally frequently, science and technology have been used to explain gen-
der differences. This volume illustrates that the scientific explanations of
gender differences have changed over time. For example, Aristotle described
women as intellectually inferior and attributed this inferiority to their colder
nature. In the 19th century, the “science” of craniometry emerged. Cranio-
metric measurements uncovered differences in overall size and particular parts
of the brain considered the seat of intelligence between men and women and
between White and non-White men. These differences justified the superior
position of White men over all women and men of other races. Today, neuro -
scientists use fMRI to reveal the degree of lateralization and functional speci-
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