Women's History As Scientists: a Guide to the Debates

A seminal historical review of the debates surrounding women's contributions and roles in science, with emphasis on women's access to education, training, and professional careers. "Biology is destiny" has been a repetitive theme throughout history, but exceptions abound. Nowhere have those exceptions been harder fought and more bitterly won than in the realm of women in science. Accomplishments of women in science have been documented since the time of the Greeks, but the struggle for...
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A seminal historical review of the debates surrounding women's contributions and roles in science, with emphasis on women's access to education, training, and professional careers. "Biology is destiny" has been a repetitive theme throughout history, but exceptions abound. Nowhere have those exceptions been harder fought and more bitterly won than in the realm of women in science. Accomplishments of women in science have been documented since the time of the Greeks, but the struggle for acceptance has been Herculean and is far from over. This remarkable work illuminates the debates surrounding women's involvement with science throughout history and in a broad range of disciplines. Unlike a biographical compendium of great scientists, it examines the question posed throughout history: are women capable of doing science? Whether people have the right to even ask the question is germane to the debate itself. The coverage discusses Hypatia, the first female scientist about whom we have information; examines the contradictory behavior of the Church in the treatment of women during the medieval era, and covers the seventeenth-century debates over women's education.; It examines women physicians, discusses feminism and science, and delves into why there are so few women in science - even today. The debate that began during the time of Plato and Aristotle continues to this day.