Gender and Science

Drawing by: Berry Ramakers and Sylvia Borg (Amsterdam, 1985)
Gender, Race and Science
Introductory Comments
	The scholarly analysis of gender and science began in earnest in the 1980s. At the time scholars in the field of women's studies had begun to examine gender--by which we meant a system of power relationships which mapped onto those bodies which we conventionally call "male" and "female". Historians asked how gender politics shaped history. Literary scholars asked how gender politics shaped the novel, or made some literary forms seem more important than others. In each case, asking such questions changed the structure of the discipline by holding up for analysis things which had hitherto seem like natural truths. Women's studies scholars interested in science began to ask similar sorts of questions. Is scientific knowledge gendered? What is meant by the idea of objective knowledge? Women's studies scholars trained originally in the sciences, in history of science, philosophy, anthropology and literary theory all started to write actively about these topics. At the same time scholars in a newly developing field called science studies began to analyze science as a cultural product, and feminist scholars began to use insights from science studies. In the history of biology the question of gender and race have always been linked. Furthermore, as the field of women's studies began to grapple with its own cultural diversity, some scholars started to analyze race and science in a manner analogous to studies of gender and science . There are now dozens of books and thousands of articles on the topics of gender, race and science. I list a few of my favorites below and links to web sites with additional resources as well. (see also the book series Race, Gender and Science).
Suggested Readings:
	Gender and Science Gero, Joan M. and Conkey, Margaret, W. eds. Engendering Archeology: Women and Prehistory (1991). Blackwell. Harding, Sandra (1991) Whose Science, Whose Knowledge? Cornell University Press. Haraway, Donna (1997) Modest_Witness@Second_Millenium.FemaleMan_Meets_Oncomouse^TMRoutledge Keller, Evelyn (1985) Reflections on Gender and Science Yale University Press Keller, Evelyn Fox (1992) Secrets of Life, Secrets of Death: Essays on Language Gender and Science Routledge Martin, Emily (1987) The Woman in the Body Beacon Press Martin, Emily (1994) Flexible Bodies Beacon Press Russett, Cynthia Eagle (1989) Sexual Science: the Victorian Construction of Womanhood Harvard University Press Schiebinger, Londa (1999) Has Feminism Changed Science? Harvard University Press. Race and Science Guthrie, Robert V. (1976) Even the Rat was White Harper and Row Harding, Sandra, ed. (1993) The "Racial" Economy of Science. Indiana University Press Harding, Sandra (1998) Is Science Multicultural? Indiana University Press Haraway, Donna (1989) Primate Visions: Gender, Rqce and Nature in the World of Modern Science. Routledge. Longino, Helen (1990) Science as Social Knowledge Princeton University Press Schiebinger, Londa (1993) Nature's Body: Gender in the Making of Modern Science. Harvard University Press. Wailoo, Keith (1999) Drawing Blood: Technology and Disease Identity in 20th Century America Johns Hopkins University Press. Wailoo, Keith (2001) Dying in the City of the Blues: Sickle Cell Anemia and the Politics of Race and Health. University of North Carolina Press.
Additional Web Resources:
	History of Race in Science (a comprehensive site offering links to bibliographies, web sites and courses which address aspects of race and science). Mathematicians of the African Diaspora (25% of whom are women). Gender Science and Technology for Development (launched under the auspices of the UNESCO World Congress on Science in June 1999) Feminist Theory Website (in English, Spanish and French includes over 5000 bibliographic entries). Image archive of the American Eugenics Movement (a good entry into one aspect of the history of race and science) graduate women in science (this web page of a professional sorority is filled with other web links about women in science). women and minorities in science and engineering (this page is itself a list of links to other informative sites). Women and Science Bibliography (this is one of the most comprehensive bibliographies available). National Science Foundation (is the source of current data on PhD's awarded to women and minorities in science). World Conference on Science (held in 1999, this conference addressed both issues of race and gender; this web site has informative reports on the conference deliberations).