In early American history, society believed that women did not have a place in education and high-level learning. They were told not to bother their brains with such advanced thinking. Middle and upper class women learned to read and write, but their education ended there. A woman’s place was said to be in the home, cooking, sewing, and taking care of the children. In the case of upper class women, their “to-do” list was cut even shorter with the servants present to do the work.
However, women desired a higher education. Elizabeth Blackwell is a prime example of women’s fight for a medical degree, one of the first STEM environments available to women. In order to kick-start her education she wrote to all of the doctors that she knew, requesting advice and help. However, most of the doctors replied that they thought it impossible, that a woman would not be able to endure the rigors of a medical education, and that they feared the competition that women doctors would bring. Elizabeth persisted, finally making her way to Philadelphia, a city famous for its study in medicine, to stay with Dr. Elder, one of the few supporters of her education. Once here she continued writing letters and actually found many friends who agreed to support her cause, but unfortunately universities were not included in this list of friends. Elizabeth then pursued an education at the University of Geneva in New York where the Medical Faculty and students agreed to accept her. While at first the university cared about the press coverage that Elizabeth’s spot would bring, she eventually established her rightful place as a student there. Although she encountered some resentment among the wives of doctors and other people living in the small town, Elizabeth ...
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Keller, Evelyn Fox. Reflections on Gender and Science: 10th Anniversary Edition. New Haven and London: Yale University, 1995.
In his novel, Cantor's Dilemma, Dr. Djerassi uses female characters to address sexist issues arising from women integrating into the predominantly male science world. The characters, Celestine Price and Professor Arderly, are used to show examples of how women have little voice in the field of science. The female characters suggest how women are often looked upon as sex objects rather than co-workers and they are given little opportunity to balance a scientific career with raising a family. By weaving these issues into his novel, Dr. Djerassi illustrates the following theme: Discrimination against women in the field of science is harmful to the progression of scientific exploration. If women are excluded from science, then an artificial limit is put on human resources. (The field of science will not utilize the potential female minds available.)
Education did not form part of the life of women before the Revolutionary War and therefore, considered irrelevant. Women’s education did not extend beyond that of what they learned from their mothers growing up. This was especially true for underprivileged women who had only acquired skills pertaining to domesticity unlike elite white women during that time that in addition to having acquired domestic skills they learned to read a result becoming literate. However, once the Revolutionary War ended women as well as men recognized the great need for women to obtain a greater education. Nonetheless, their views in regards to this subject differed greatly in that while some women including men believed the sole purpose of educating women was in order to better fulfil their roles and duties as wives and mothers others believed the purpose of education for women was for them “to move beyond the household field.” The essays of Benjamin Rush and Judith Sargent Murray provide two different points of view with respects to the necessity for women to be well educated in post-revolutionary America.
Throughout most of recorded history, women generally have endured significantly fewer career opportunities and choices, and even less legal rights, than that of men. The “weaker sex,” women were long considered naturally, both physically and mentally, inferior to men. Delicate and feeble minded, women were unable to perform any task that required muscular or intellectual development. This idea of women being inherently weaker, coupled with their natural biological role of the child bearer, resulted in the stereotype that “a woman’s place is in the home.” Therefore, wife and mother were the major social roles and significant professions assigned to women, and were the ways in which women identified and expressed themselves. However, women’s history has also seen many instances in which these ideas were challenged-where women (and some men) fought for, and to a large degree accomplished, a re-evaluation of traditional views of their role in society.
Maurice Wilkins: This scientist is seen as somewhat sexist, because he does not believe in the potential of Rosalind’s scientific abilities. At the same time, he seemed to be dedicated to work, but Rosalind seems to do a majority of the work.
Many women scientist upheld and defended their positions as learned, scientific individuals. Marie Meurdrac, a French scientist, in a foreword to a publication stated clearly that women’s and men’s minds, if thought in the same manner would hold no difference.(Doc 2) Similarly, Dorothea Erxleben understood and explained why men and women alike look down on her for studying science because they feel that it is an insult.(Doc 9) Her experiences as a female scientist led her to truly grasp why her persecutors acted as they did towards her although this document shows no signs that she thinks the same. Maria Sibylla Merian, a German entomologist, discussed some of her scientific practices that encompass her dedication and fascination with science.(Doc 5) Another example of this whole-hearted dedication comes from Marquis...
Cole wants her readers to understand that everyone should have the right to learn this magnificent tool. K.C. Cole believes women did not have the same opportunities as men on the subject that they want to pursue in. She didn 't realize what an odd creature a woman interested in physics was until she saw a University’s conference, out of several hundred young students of physics and engineering in the room, less than a handful were women. This is especially true in the current society, where some occupation are considered women only, and some are men only. As said in her essay, “women are simply made to feel out of place in science. Her conclusion was supported by a Ford Foundation study by Lynn H. Fox on the problems of women in mathematics. When students were asked to choose among six reasons accounting for girls ' lack of interest in math, the girls rated this statement second - Men do not want girls in the mathematical occupations.” The author K.C. Cole uses historical allusion from another person to help support her idea of the exclusion of women in the science field. As we all can imagine, this did not only happen to K.C Cole. As she described in her essay, some of her friends and people she knows about also face challenges on this field, she remembers that, “A friend of mine remembers winning a Bronx Wide mathematics competition in the second grade. Her friends both boys and girls warned her that
The androcentric view of history often fails to acknowledge the achievements of notable women who have made profound impacts that have revolutionized the way in which we see the world, as well as the universe. Although the modernized 21st century society is more apt to recognize the achievements of women with an equivocal perspective with men, it was not always so. During the early 20th century, women were consistently denied equality with men due to a perverse androcentric, male-dominated perspective that deemed women as subordinate and insignificant. This androcentric perspective limited the opportunities available to women at the time, leaving them only with domestic occupations that were deemed acceptable for women such as nurses, teachers or clerics. Very few women aspired for higher education, and even fewer achieved it. There were very few colleges that accepted women at the time, save for those erected for women alone. It is because of this, women rarely e...
Chipman, Susan F. Women and Mathematics: Balancing the Equation. Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Publishers, Hillsdale, NJ 1985.
STEM is best known as science, technology, engineering, and mathematics. STEM for many years has been primarily seen as and stereotyped into a masculine work field. But as of recent years, while it expands, more and more women have been rising in these fields. However, there is still a tremendous gender gap between men and women in these fields and areas of work. The gender gap between men and women in STEM is alive and well. There is no denying that the gender gap between men and women in STEM is immense. But there instead are many sufficient reasons as to why there is such a huge gap between men and women within in fields. Some probable causes for the lack of women seen in these areas are biased towards women, unconscious bias girls receive
Ogilvie, Marilyn Bailey. Women in Science: Antiquity through the Nineteenth Century. Cambridge (Mass.): MIT, 1988. Print.
In the Victorian Period receiving an education was an act of unconformity. Women were to be pure, domestic, and submissive and these traits could not be achieved through education. The education of women was thought to disrupt the social balance of time, but in the Victorian Period women were educated because they were mothers of men. They wanted women to teach their children so they had to be educated. Women were stripped of their rights and dignity, but they were finally free to break through the co...
Carol B. Muller, “The Underrepresentation of Women in Engineering and Related Sciences: Pursuing Two Complementary Paths to Parity.” National Academies Press (US); Web. 2003.
persistence for women in science-related careers, but taking elective math courses did not. (p. 163) Although in this research taking elective math courses was not found to effect persistence of women in science-related careers, I contend that math courses are still critical as they are prerequisites for science electives of chemistry and physics. The National Science Foundation has reported, “young women have lower interest in math courses and take fewer advanced math courses” (Farmer, Wardrop, Anderson and Risinger, 1995, p. 157). In addition, Seymour and Hewitt (1997) found the effects of inadequate high school preparation to be the most common contributor to early decisions to switch from SME (science, mathematics, engineering) majors to non-SME majors (p. 79). Seymour (1995) also points out that studies have noted “the subtle deterrents to active participation in mathematics and science which bear upon precollege girls” (p.
...cs. In the years, the country has started to realize the injustice it has been doing females in the field of mathematics. I believe that in the future these biases and disadvantages will be a thing of the past. Females have the mental capability to perform on an equal level with all respected and distinguished male mathematicians, but first social pressures and stereotypes must be eliminated.