1. Gender Issue
in S & T
JUS 494 ST & InEquality
Arizona State University
Professor: Merlyna Lim

2. Dame ‘Steve’
Shirley
FI Group (now Xansa)
founder
in 1962

3. once upon a time...
science was a woman

4. • The Enlightenment -- rebellion against aristocratic rule and
the formation of the first professional academies and
associations for scientists, wiped out the established
niches for educated and active women of the 17th &
18th centuries
• The Reformation -- decline of
convent schools (where math and
science taught by nuns), newly
formed professional orgs and
academics had no membership for
women
• source: The Mind Has No Sex?
(Schiebinger)

5. • Joseph Glanvil, a noted mechanical determinist of
Newton’s time, a witch hunter whose inflammatory
writings on the power of the laws of physics in
identifying witches helped send many innocent women to
their deaths in the 17th century (source: Keller’s Reflections
on Gender and Science)

6. Women in S&T
• How long have women been active scientists? the answer
is the same for men.. as long as we have been human.
• Stone and bone record: the first technical name was male
- Imhotep, the second: En Hedu’ Anna (c. 2354 BC)

7. • most myths and religions place the beginning of
agriculture, of laws, of civilization, of
mathematics, of calendars, time keeping and
medicine into the hands of women --- goddesses

8. Gender
• refers to the distinct roles that men and women are
assigned in any society
• as a result, women and men assume distinct socially
and culturally defined responsibilities and tasks
both within the household and in the wider
community, lead women and men to have different
needs and aspirations

9. Diagnosis
• Gender inequity in education and careers in S&T
• cultural attitudes and gender stereotyping
• more boys than girls receive basic education
• among those, more boys than girls study S&T
• there are more men than women in S&T careers
• there are very few women in S&T policy and decision
making positions

10. • The gender-specific nature of technical change
• Rural Impact
• potential of S&T to effect changes in the lives of rural
women and meet their basic needs has not been fully
realized
• most S&T programs oriented toward addressing basic
needs in rural areas of developing countries have failed
to recognize the gender-specific nature of development

11. • Rural Impact (continued)
• most technical change appears to have been oriented to the
tasks that men perform and to men’s interests and needs
• unwanted outcomes/impacts most likely to adversely affect
women
• a substantial amount of local traditional knowledge is held
by women in agriculture, environmental resource
management, and health

12. • Urban Impact
• new technologies (e.g. IT) have increased employment
opportunities for women
• but new technologies have also made many existing jobs in
manufacturing redundant/obsolete --- generally, female labor
has been displaced more than male
• new jobs are more skill intensive, more limited training
opportunities for women than men

13. Transformative
Actions
• Gender Equity in S&T education
• equity in gaining access
• equality of opportunity within schools
• opportunity for distance education and re-entry to
schools

14. • Removing obstacles to women in S&T
careers
• specific measures for all employers
• policy tools for governments
• initiatives in academia and the school system

15. • Making Science Responsive to the Needs of
Society
• improve the decision-making mechanisms within
the science system to ensure clear articulation of
the gender-specific needs and goals
• encourage political parties and governments to be
more explicit in their policy platforms -- m/w
equality
• encourage public media sponsored popular science
programming
• support NGO working on the interface of gender
in S&T

16. • Making S&T Decision-Making Process more
“Gender Aware”
• increase the number of women in S&T decision making
and policy-advisory bodies
• increase the understanding of all decision-makers about
the gender implications of their decisions through
explicit training programs
• involve end-users in the determination of research
priorities and in the design and implementation of S&T
development program -- explicit attention to the
participation of women
• subject all development program with ST component to
‘gender impact analysis’ before initiation
• government as a focal point of expertise in gender, S &T