Immortal women in science?
Dean Falk wrote a sad but very funny letter to the editor of Nature that was published 19 October, 2000. He began by telling us that "women were featured in some obituaries between 1949 and 1969 for all fields except engineering demonstrates that noteworthy women were contributing to scientific and scholarly endeavours half a century ago." With tongue firmly in cheek, he went on to point out that "Although women in the physical sciences were represented by 4.8% of the
death notices in Science and 8.3% of the obituaries in Nature in 1969, by 1979 there were none - they had become immortal..." He noted about 5% of obituaries published in Nature (and in Science during the time when they published such articles) were about women. And then, he suggested that publicizing this immortality might help us to recruit more women to science.
cheers,
Laura
Should Science and Nature think more about gender balance in their obituaries? What do you think?
A It's all part of the invisibility of women in science. We need to find better ways to have our contributions get the recognition they deserve.
B. As more and more women went into science, they were shunted into positions where their male bosses tended to take all the credit for anything they discovered.
C. Women aren't as creative in science as men. They like to "amplify the paradigm" as Thomas Kuhn would say, rather than questioning, competing, and making important discoveries that would be recognized in obituaries.
D. Women in science are indeed immortal, didn't you know that?
Hi Laura,
You might be right. There's a women's loop and a separate men's loop, and the men's counts a lot more. We can connect some times but not all that often. It can be pretty discouraging, despite our "immortality."
I think you're right, hmcbride! If we can find a way to be more visible in the scientific dialog, there will be more obituaries for women in science too and we'll lose our "immortality" too.
I'm beginning to wonder if there's a women's scientific conversation/cooperation and a separate men's conversation that matters more in terms of rewards.
cheers,
Laura
A. Women are still invisible: at conferences, invited talks, etc. Why should obits be any different? Raise visibility and you'll see more women showing up in the profile and obit sections of the big journals.
C You don't seem to have many (any?) men on here, but what a politically correct site it is. I might as well tell the other side for once. Things haven't changed much since there were no female professors. What women have really original ideas? The few that are recognized. The others are helpful to male scientists.
Funny article, reminded me of the Journal of Irreproduceable Results. I needed a good laugh. Immortal indeed. Better be strong though, given the discussion in Susan Forsburg's posting. I think immortality is probably overrated. I'm going to be so tired when I'm seventy that a mai tai in a recliner is about all I'll be good for. Right out of Wall-E.
