Women and Minorities in Science and Engineering essay
It is known that women have been subjected to overt discrimination throughout the history of science. According to Yentsch, and Sindermann (249) until 20th century the scientific community was populated at professional levels almost exclusively by men and women were traditionally in the background, in supporting nonprofessional roles. Substantial signs of change have been seen in recent decades; overt discriminatory practices that largely excluded women from the professional ranks have diminished or in some instances disappeared.
The present paper is dedicated the serious social and scientific issue – the role of women in science and engineering. The focus of this research will be made on women and inventions in nineteenth century’s United States. It’s an interesting field of study, because the masculine image of the inventor was not perpetuated by a lack of women’s technological contributions but rather by cultural barriers that discouraged recognition of women inventors and diffused significance of even the most prominent of women’s inventions.
Major concept of the book ‘Beyond Bias and Barriers’ (2007) claims that women often face barriers to success in every field of science and engineering. Among these barriers are: social identity and public image; democratic ideology, political rhetoric, and even legal issues. These barriers and also knowing who invented what, is part of the long-neglected legacy of nineteenth-century women inventors. In addition to the research of women inventors in nineteenth century’s United States, a comparison to the twentieth century is going to be made in this paper.
Obvious underrepresentation of women in these areas is an important aspect of the issue. Leslie, Mcclure, and Oaxaca (239) note that it isn’t new at all, and national priority should be given to it, because it is related to the social and labor policies of the state.
Nowadays women both in Canada and the U.S. have managed to reach or even exceed parity with men in some fields of science and engineering, but nevertheless the situation with the representation of the women in many scientific institutions and specialties is not balanced at all in comparison to women’s distribution in the population (Leslie, Mcclure, and Oaxaca 239).
- Nineteenth-century American women inventors
It should be noted that that American women have made significant contribution in the patents, inventions, and other technological contributions. In other words, they managed to leave a legacy of significant value in a form of their collective and individual experiences, which help to dispel persistent gendered assumptions about women and technology.
Because the historical and cultural construction of technology developed as inherently masculine, women’s technological ability and creative inventions have been devalued and nearly obscured from the traditional history of technology. (Pilato 1)
According to Pilato (3) the documents confirm the accomplishments of these women. For instance, over 5,000 American women are known to have received patents between 1790 and 1895, but for some reason, even one notable nineteenth century American woman inventor isn’t recognized by the modern public. People remember the contributions of celebrated male inventors including such famous names as Thomas Edison, and Alexander Graham Bell. But what do we know about women inventors? Unfortunately the names of Martha Coston, Margaret Knight, Helen Blanchard, and Mary J. Montgomery have never been a part of the general knowledge. These scientists are barely known, but they form a substantial part of the legacy of American invention. It is clear that their recognition should involve the gendered social context, because it will help public understand their genuine value and their true impact.
Nineteenth-century American women inventors faced with various limitations, not only legal limitations related to the patent application but cultural and administrative barriers too. These were the real barriers for women inventors; they had to compete for legal entitlements and also to compete for manufacturing opportunity and recognition as significant technological contributors with men. Besides, it should be added that Patent Office decisions often were discriminatory at that time.
Also, the perception of woman in nineteenth century was anti-intellectual and family-oriented. The ideal woman was emotional, impulsive, not logical, scientific, or rational (the antithesis of the characterization of an inventor). If she was rational or intellectual or displayed any of the other traits deemed masculine, she was judged less than a true woman. Consequently, a woman who invented was viewed as less of a woman, something of a social misfit, clearly a disadvantage in legal competition for a patent award. (Pilato 5)
- Comparison of nineteenth-century and twentieth-century conditions for women in science
There is no doubt, that nineteenth century imposed more limitation on women in science than twentieth century did. The role of women has significantly changed in the twentieth-century and the most important thing is that cultural definition of science as an inappropriate career for women was forgotten.
Women-scientists managed to take their place in the mainstream of science. But certain disproportion in the representation of women and men in science were still in force. During the past two decades the barriers have become less obvious or, in some instances, have disappeared altogether, and marginality for women scientists has been replaced by a condition often approximating equality. (Yentsch, and Sindermann 248)Also, a certain trend defined by researchers needs to be mentioned: women tend to congregate in the less quantitative sciences (psychology, sociology, biology, and anthropology) rather than in the more quantitative sciences (mathematics, physics, chemistry, and engineering). (Yentsch, and Sindermann 248) Another crucial point is that women have become more numerous in the lower and middle echelons of science, but they are still inadequately represented in the upper professional stages and their salaries remain disparate. (Yentsch, and Sindermann 249) Unfortunately inequities still exist in salaries, in promotion, and in access to the operational networks of science.
Conclusion
Taking into accounted arguments that were mentioned above, a conclusion could be made that the role of women in science and engineering in nineteenth-century United States was important but seriously underestimated and almost unknown for the members of the general public. These women left a rich legacy in their inventions and their experiences in inventing. The inventions and the experiences of nineteenth-century women inventors challenged gendered assumptions about women and technology.
As for the modern day, changes in attitudes of men toward women as scientific colleagues are still required before true gender parity exists. Only then the discrimination of women in science that have characterized the past centuries will finally disappear.
